


Just Add Ice

by fangs_for_the_memories



Series: Ice Hockey AU [1]
Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Hockey, Alternate Universe- No Supernatural, F/F, Fluff, ice hockey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-21
Updated: 2015-03-08
Packaged: 2018-03-13 00:19:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 28,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3360791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fangs_for_the_memories/pseuds/fangs_for_the_memories
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An ice-hockey AU in which Danny is captain of a team with Laura, Kirsch, LaFontaine, and Perry.  When Betty breaks her leg, Coach Will holds tryouts and it looks grim, until Carmilla comes interrupts at the end.  Little do they know, Carmilla is under strict orders from the Dean to make their season as miserable as possible...  A feat that a tiny Laura Hollis inadvertently makes very, very difficult.<br/>[UPDATE] The first chapter contains a quick glossary of hockey terminology for those that need/want it!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Glossary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A quick explanation and glossary of hockey terminology used for those who want to read the fic but don't watch hockey. Please feel free to let me know if anything needs to be clarified or added!

Quick overview of ice hockey:

 

In general, each team has six players on the ice: three forwards (one center, and two wingers on either side), two defensemen, and one goalie.  Games are separated into three periods.  If the game remains tied at the end of the third period, there is usually one overtime period, followed by a shootout. 

****

* * *

 

 

**GENERAL TERMS (listed alphabetically)**

**Assist** – players who passed the puck to the player who scores a goal

 **Backhand** – used less than a forehand, against the direction the stick’s blade curves in

 **Baking skates** – usually done to conform the skate boot to a player’s feet

 **Banging their stick** – usually done against the ice or the boards to show appreciation or support for teammates

 **The bench** – where the teams sit, usually behind the boards

 **Bender** – slang for a bad or inexperienced hockey player

 **Blocker** – a part of the goalie equipment, worn on their arm

 **Blue line** – the line separating the neutral zone from the offensive zones

 **Boarding** – a penalty in which a player violently checks, pushes, or trips another player into the boards

 **The boards** – the walls around the rink

 **Body check** – hitting another player, usually with your hip or your shoulder

 **Breakaway** – one player bursts alone into the offensive zone, with no defensemen or forwards to stop them

 **Center ice** – in the neutral zone, where face-offs take place to start games, periods, or after a goal is scored

 **Covering your point** – one of the wingers’ tasks involves watching the other team’s defensemen to cut off passing lanes

 **The crease** – the area near the goalie’s net

 **Cross-checking** – a penalty when a player hits another player while holding up their stick in both hands

 **Dangle** – usually involves some fancy stickhandling maneuvers to fake out the other team before scoring

 **Defensive zone** \- the zone where the team’s goalie is positioned

 **Deking** – a form of faking out another player with puck movement

 **Drills** – sections of a practice, usually involving practicing different skills

 **Dropping back** – heading further into the defensive zone, usually for forwards to help the defensemen or the goalie

 **Dumping the puck** – usually done to clear the puck from the defensive zone to the neutral or

 **Even strength** – when both teams have the same amount of players on the ice, but are not at full strength (all six players)

 **Face-off** – when the referee drops the puck for two centers to fight for possession over

 **Fist bump** – a common practice done by players to celebrate or congratulate each other, in lieu of a handshake

 **Flex** – how flexible or how stiff a hockey stick is

 **Forehand** – the standard shot, in the direction that the stick’s blade curves in

 **Hanger** – a player (usually a forward) that stays right on the border of the offensive zone (“hanging”) so that when the puck breaks out of their defensive zone, they can enter the offensive zone as soon as possible

 **Hash marks** – the lines on the edge of face-off circles

 **Holding the puck** – when done by a defenseman (in rare cases, by a forward), they usually are in possession of the puck, but aren’t passing it, waiting for their teammates to get into position suitable for passing; if done by a goalie, it’s a stoppage of play

 **Hopping the boards** – not using the bench doors and leaping over the boards

 **Interception** – stealing the puck from a player currently in possession of it

 **Join the rush** – usually while making a change, when a player joins the fray as their team makes a sudden burst into the offensive zone

 **Line (First/Second/Etc.)** – either the three forwards, or the pair of defensemen that are grouped to go out together

 **Line change** – when the line on the ice changes with a line waiting on the bench

 **The Michigan trick** – a common trick attempted by players that involves twirling with the puck on the stick, before throwing it out away from them

 **Neutral zone** \- the part in the middle of the rink between the defensive and offensive zones.  This is also where face-offs take place to start games, periods, or after a goal is scored.

 **Offensive zone** \- the end of the ice the team is trying to score in.

 **Overtime** – shorter than a regular period, it follows a tie at the end of regulation time

 **Passing lane** – the space on the ice that’s “free,” with no players blocking it

 **Peewee league** – Players under 13 years of age

 **Penalty box** – the area, usually across the rink from the team benches, where players serve penalties

 **Penalty kill** –a team receives a penalty and has at least one less player on the ice

 **Poke check** – poking the puck away from the player in possession of it with a stick

 **Put pressure on** – skating near another player to either distract them or prevent them from receiving/giving a pass

 **Rebound** – after a shot on the goalie, the puck bounces away, giving another player a chance to take another shot

 **Scrimmage** – unlike drills in practice, players are placed in game-like situations to practice all their skills, instead of focusing on specific ones

 **Scoring chances** – players have been shooting the puck at the goalie, but no goals have been scored

 **Shift** – the amount of time a player is on the ice at a time (usually about thirty seconds to a minute)

 **Shorthanded (goal)** –a team is on a penalty kill and scores

 **Shootout** – the only players on the ice are one shooter and the goalie; players shoot at the goalie, usually for the best of three rounds.  If there is a tie at the end of these three rounds, it goes to sudden-death, with the first team scoring declared the winner

 **Shots on net/goal** \- players have been shooting the puck at the goalie, but no goals have been scored

 **Shut out** – A game in which the losing team did not score any goals

 **Slap** **shot** – a harder shot than a wrist shot, which involves a wind up

 **Snipe / sniper / sniping** – a shot that’s both accurate and strong

 **Snowing** – stopping short so that ice shavings fly off the ice; usually done to a goalie to distract them

 **Squirt league** – Players under 9 years of age

 **Stickhandling** – playing with the puck

 **Take a knee** – during practices, when a coach is talking, players will usually get down on one knee to look up at them

 **Take the body** – opting to go for a body check instead of another play

 **Three-on-one rush** – three players on one team skate into the offensive zone against one of the other team’s players

 **Touch pass** – a pass in which one player merely deflects the puck to another player without making a passing motion

 **Two-on-one rush** – two players on one team skate into the offensive zone against one of the other team’s players

 **Upstairs** – lifting the puck off the ice while shooting at a goalie

 **Warm ups** – the time before a game during which players skate on the ice, usually doing a quick drill

 **Wrapping around** – skating around something (usually the back of the net to go around the goalie)

 **Wrist shot** – a quick shot, usually done with a quick flick

 


	2. Go, Team, Go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team is holding try-outs after Betty breaks her leg. Sarah Jane, Natalie, and Elsie don't particularly stand out, and it seems pretty bleak. When the skate guard comes to kick them off the ice, Laura is in for a surprise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys! It's my first AU, so it's a bit rough, especially in the beginning, but it's been fun to write, and I hope just as fun (if not, more) for you to read!  
> I'm trying my best to keep the hockey jargon out, but it's a bit difficult for me to figure out what qualifies as "jargon" because I played for a few years. Some of the beginning of the fic may run into that problem a bit, but I promise fluff will follow. Enjoy!!

Laura and Danny are the first ones on the ice.

“Where are the pucks?” Laura asks as she pivots to face the older girl.

Danny points to the home team bench and the tiny girl nods.  “I’ll start setting up the nets.”

Laura skates over to the bench and pops open the door to retrieve the bucket and places it on the rim of the boards separating the ice and the bench.  She skates over to help Danny secure one of the nets in the crease.  By then, LaFontaine and Perry have left the locker room, with Kirsch trailing behind.

 

Laura goes to join Danny in stretching. The cold air is already making her feel stiff, but after a couple minutes, her muscles start to feel ready for the practice ahead of her.  The others have started to join in warming up.

Will steps onto the ice and skates over. “We have three girls trying out,” he announces, looking over his clipboard.  “They should be here soon, so I want to go over what we’re doing during these try-outs.”

The group stops stretching and takes a knee.

“We’re primarily looking for a forward on the first line with Laura and LaFontaine.  I mean, we’ll accept all three just because our roster was already really short even before Betty broke her leg, so they’re essentially just competing for that spot. The other two will either be a backup forward or defenseman.”  He shrugs. “It’s not ideal, but that’s what happens when the team doesn’t have much funding and our try-outs are poorly announced.”

 

The visiting team locker room opens and the girls start to head to the ice.  Laura vaguely recognizes them as Sarah Jane, Natalie, and Elsie from around campus.

“Fresh meat,” Danny whispers to Laura, and then cackles, making Laura giggle.

Will fixes them with a glare, but they go back to snickering.

 

* * *

 

After the first team drill, none of the new girls have managed to score on Danny, Kirsch, and Perry.  There are a lot of missed opportunities where either Laura or LaF are open in front of the net, but the girls don’t hit them with a pass. Will extends the drill to try to give them more of an opportunity, but no magic happens.

After the next drill, it’s clear that Sarah Jane and Kirsch work together well, but once again, no one really has any chemistry with Laura.

The last drill is such a failure that Will sends Laura to help the three of the newbies try to score.  It still doesn’t work.

 

* * *

 

The practice runs way over their allotted ice time, and the skate guard comes out from the office.  Laura recognizes her as Carmilla.  She blows a whistle and skates onto the ice.

“Time to get off, Will,” she says.

Will smirks at the girl.  “Why?  Are you going to kick us off?”  He gestures for the players to continue with the drill.  “We’re not leaving until someone new on this team helps score a goal.”

Carmilla scowls and skates away from him towards the group.  She picks up speed and effortlessly checks Natalie aside and grabs her stick and taps it on the ice, making eye contact with Laura.

Laura hits her with a pass and they skate towards the others.  Carmilla stops short while Laura skates around Danny, Kirsch, and LaFontaine towards the boards, and Carmilla shoots the puck against the boards so that Laura can get to it. Laura wraps around the net and fires it in front, where Carmilla has now situated herself and with a quick lift on her backhand, the puck fires over Perry’s shoulder and enters the net.

 

Laura jumps up and down, squealing. She skates over to Carmilla and lifts her hand, waiting for a fist bump, but Carmilla turns away to face Will. “Someone scored. Now you guys can get off the ice.” She flings the stick in Sarah Jane’s direction.

“Wait, wait,” Laura says, skating after her. “You were amazing! _We_ were amazing!  Why don’t you join the team?”

Carmilla pivots to face the other girl. “Do I strike you as the type of person who plays well with others?”

Will and Danny skate alongside them. “Come on, kitty. You and Laura had a lot of chemistry. More than she had with the others trying out, anyway.”  Will looks to Danny for confirmation, who nods.  “It’s one or two games a week, and practice two or three times a week. The season has a total of thirty five games, but there’s more if we make it into the playoffs.”

“I don’t have time for this crap.”

Danny and Will sigh and the former skates away. Will looks as if he’s about to say something else but changes his mind.  Carmilla shakes her head and shifts so she’s skating forward again.

Laura removes her helmet and skates in front of Carmilla and stops right in front of her, earning a stare down. “What is it, cupcake?”

Laura raises an eyebrow at the nickname but decides to ignore it.  “Why don’t you want to join?”

“I just told you.  I don’t have time for it.”

“What else is taking up your time?”

“I’m secretly a centuries-old badass vampire that kidnaps girls and sacrifices them to a demon,” Carmilla deadpans.

Laura playfully smacks her.  “Haha, very funny,” she says sarcastically.

Carmilla rolls her eyes.  “If I join, will you leave me alone?”

“If I say ‘yes,’ will you join, even if it’s actually a ‘no?’”  The smaller girl flashes her biggest grin.

Carmilla tries her best not to smile back and instead takes a deep breath.  “Fine.”

 

Will smiles and pats Carmilla on the shoulder. “Welcome to the team.” He skates away.

Laura lets out another squeal and does a fist pump.

“You’re ridiculous, you know that?”

Laura giggles.  “Do you have your own equipment?”

“I can get some.  Employees here get a discount.”

Laura nods and starts to skate away before realizing she forgot something.  “Oh, and you’ve never played professionally before, right?”

Carmilla quirks an eyebrow.

“It’s against this league’s rules to have a player on the team that’s played professionally before.”

“Oh.”  Carmilla shakes her head.  “No, I haven’t.”

“Okay!”  Laura’s smile is almost contagious enough to make Carmilla crack. Almost.  “Will will probably email you the schedule.” Carmilla simply nods and Laura beams at her.  “Welcome to the Silas Sirens!”

 

By now, everyone else has returned to the locker rooms, and Laura skates off the ice to join them.  Carmilla watches her before she sighs and goes to get the Zamboni.

 _Go, team, go_.

 


	3. Hit Me With Your Best Shot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first team practice ends with a bang, as Carmilla's orders from her mother changes.

The first practice with the whole team is a couple days later.  Unsurprisingly, Will puts Carmilla on the first line with Laura and LaFontaine, while Natalie and Elsie are second line forwards, and Sarah Jane is the back-up defenseman with Danny and Kirsch.

 

Changing in the locker room mainly consists of Danny holding Laura’s equipment above her head while Laura reaches for it, pouting. Danny and LaF are laughing, while Perry gently chides them.  Carmilla dresses silently, alone at a locker in a corner.

 

Drills mainly consist of different groupings of three forwards against two defensemen until the forwards score on Perry. Laura and Carmilla score the most often, although less so when it’s against Danny and Kirsch.

For the last drill, Will decides to switch it up. He pits Laura, Natalie, Elsie, Danny, and Perry against Carmilla, LaF, Kirsch, and SJ in a scrimmage.

 

LaFontaine starts off with the puck in their end, skating with it and looking for a passing lane.  Carmilla skates ahead, but Danny positions herself between them. LaF decides to dump the puck into the other end to chase it, but Laura gets to it first and passes it to Natalie. Natalie skates with it out of the zone and passes it to Elsie, who goes to pass it back to Laura, but it’s intercepted by SJ, who passes it to Kirsch.

 

Kirsch takes the puck back into the other zone and fires a slap shot at Perry, who easily blocks it and pushes it away. Danny gets the puck and shoots it out from the corner, and Elsie is waiting along the boards. Laura is already skating past and Elsie hits her with a solid pass, so Laura is now skating into the offensive zone.

SJ and Kirsch are still making their way through the neutral zone, and LaF is standing in front of the net, waiting to block a shot, leading to a one-on-one between Laura and Carmilla.

 

Laura dekes to one side, but Carmilla easily switches her stick to the other hand, looking for the right time to give a poke check. Laura spins to try to fake her out, which fails when Carmilla shifts and forces Laura to skate the puck along the boards.

By then, Natalie is standing in front of LaF at the net, so Laura passes the puck to her.  Natalie shoots the puck past LaFontaine into the net.

It is at this point that Carmilla decides not to hold back and slams herself against Laura in a hard body check.

 

The boards rattle and Laura crumples to the ice. The stick flies from her hand and Carmilla stands in front of her.

“Jesus Christ,” Danny exclaims, skating over and kneeling next to Laura, who’s still lying on the ice.  “What the hell did you do that for?”

Carmilla shrugs.  “Were you all not aware that ice hockey is a contact sport?”

The others join them.

“You didn’t have to hit her so hard,” LaF insists as they approach.

“Did you think we just wore this equipment as a fashion statement?” Carmilla sneers.  “Like wearing shin guards are going to get you on the cover of _Vogue_?”

“Bro, she didn’t even have the puck anymore,” Kirsch points out.  “ _So_ not cool.”

Perry kneels next to Laura, opposite Danny. “Laura, are you okay?”

Laura sits up slowly, clearly still winded. “Yeah,” she winces, “I think so.”

 

Will finally skates over.

Danny glares up at him.  “Aren’t you going to say something?  That hit was totally out of line!”

He shakes his head.  “This is just a practice, no big deal.”

“‘No big deal?’ Come _on_ , coach, her getting hurt in practice would be more stupid than her getting hurt in an actual game.”

“Hard hits during practice will get her more prepared to take them during a game,” he says.  “And don’t you dare talk to me that way.”

LaF huffs but otherwise remains silent.

Laura stands up and skates around a bit. “It’s fine, guys,” she says, smiling. “Will and Carmilla are right.”

Danny grumbles something like _nothey’renot_ but clears her throat and says, “Fine, let’s just wrap up practice.”

 

The team slowly heads to the locker room. Natalie and Elsie are talking about heading out to a party, and ask the others if they want to join. Kirsch not-so-subtly asks SJ if she would like to go with him and she says she does.  Perry is meticulously packing her bag and is visibly appalled at the way LaF throws their equipment haphazardly into theirs.

Danny starts to tease Laura again by holding her stuff out of her reach, but Laura winces in pain upon reaching for her elbow pad and Danny quickly gives it back to her.  She gently lifts Laura’s shirt to see a bruise slowly forming around her ribcage.

“Dammit, Karnstein,” Danny growls.

Laura places a calming hand on Danny’s elbow. “Come on, Danny. I already said the hit was fine.” She walks over to Carmilla, who’s still scowling alone in the corner.  Carmilla is currently untying her skates and looks up at the hovering girl smiling at her.

 

“Can I help you, buttercup?”  She leans her back against the wall.  “Are you here to whine about that hit like all your friends are doing?”

Laura giggles and shakes her head. “I already said I didn’t have a problem with the hit.”  Carmilla gives her a skeptical look.  “Perry, LaF, Danny, and I are going out for some dinner.  Wanna join?”

Carmilla can see the shocked and dismayed looks behind Laura.  Laura seems to sense the same and turns around to confirm before facing Carmilla again.

“As welcoming as you’re all being, I think I’ll pass,” Carmilla sneers, rolling her eyes.

Laura bites her lip.  “Are you sure?”

“ _Yes_ ,” Carmilla responds harshly.

Laura holds up her hands in a, “I surrender” pose and turns to walk away.

 

Carmilla makes sure she’s the last one to leave the locker room.  She’s carrying her hockey bag and stick when she hears footsteps behind her.  She sighs and puts the bag down and turns to face them.

“Mother,” she greets.

“Carmilla,” a tall woman says, pulling her into a hug. “You looked great out on the ice.”

“Thank you,” Carmilla responds stiffly.

“Especially that hit on Laura Hollis.” She lets out a laugh, with just a hint of malice.  “I mean, I know I told you to hurt her, but even _I_ felt that body check.”

Carmilla sighed.  “Well, she’s more sturdy than she looks, because I hit her hard and she’s more or less fine.”

Her mother waved her hand dismissively. “There is more than one way to ruin a school team’s funding than removing its star player.”  She gave Carmilla a kiss on the head.  “Besides, I already tried that, and all it did was break that other girl’s leg.  And after tonight, we’ll just have to take an alternative route, okay?”

Carmilla nodded and swallowed hard.

“If the team doesn’t make it into the playoffs, we’ll have a good reason to argue that they should receive less funding.”

Her mother started to walk towards the exit, so Carmilla picked up her bag and followed silently.

“We’re going to take away so much funding from this stupid team and then I’ll be able to reallocate it towards the glee club for next year.  Thanks to you, my dear.”

Carmilla rolled her eyes.  This wasn’t the most diabolical plan ever, but she still felt terrible being a part of it.  Again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you're enjoying it so far!! Thanks for reading!


	4. Game On

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the team's first game, and Carmilla is following her mother's plans, earning her teammates' anger.

The team is pretty pumped going into their first game. Danny has the “C” sewn onto her jersey, and LaFontaine has the “A” sewn onto theirs.  The team has their home team jerseys on, which are black (which Carmilla is more than happy with) with white and pink stripes.

Laura, LaF, and Danny are the first ones on the ice, warming up.  Carmilla is the next to skate out and scans the crowd.  Her eyes fall on her mother, sitting near the back of the stands.

“Spotted the Dean, huh?”  Carmilla looks over to see Laura standing next to her. “She’s the team’s faculty advisor and Coach Will’s mother.  They’re both new–– last year’s advisor and coach were fired.  I wonder if she’ll be at every game.”

Carmilla kept a neutral face. The entire team was now on the ice, taking random shots at Perry.  “Shouldn’t you be warming up?”

Laura gave her a half-hearted smile and skated to go talk to Kirsch about something.  Carmilla’s eyes wander back to her mother before she goes to stick handle in the corner and fires a shot at Perry.

 

The first period starts off with LaF winning the opening face-off, passing the puck back to Danny, who fires it along the boards. Laura’s waiting for it and takes it into the offensive zone, passing it to Carmilla.  The opposing defenseman pokes it away from her and shoots it back into their end, but Kirsch quickly retrieves it and holds it behind the net, passing it to Danny.

Danny passes it back to Kirsch, allowing Laura to get into position in the neutral zone and receive a pass from him. She passes it to LaF, who takes it into the offensive zone.

The other team quickly pinches towards LaF, forcing them to dump the puck into the corner.  Laura gets it, wraps around the net and, seeing that Carmilla has situated herself in front of the goalie, snaps it to her.  Carmilla does a quick wrist shot and the puck flies past the goalie’s blocker for a goal.

Carmilla ignores Laura’s attempt at a fist bump.

 

Halfway through the period, LaF, Laura, and Carmilla break the puck out of their zone on a three-on-one rush, and Carmilla takes a slap shot, but the goalie blocks it.  Laura reaches the rebound and lifts it over the goalie’s shoulder for a second goal.

Laura goes to give Carmilla a first bump, but she’s already skating away.  LaF, Danny, and Kirsch surround her in a hug and the others on the bench give her fist bumps.

 

The first period ends with the team on a penalty kill when Danny is called for boarding, which carries over into the second period. A few minutes into the second period, the team is left scrambling and the opposing team scores on a breakaway.

The rest of the second period goes by without much excitement.

 

Halfway through the third period, one of the opposing team’s forwards is screening Perry and the puck slides by her leg pad, and the game is tied.

With two minutes left, there is a two-on-one against Kirsch, and the opposing player with the puck manages to deke and fire a shot past Perry.

Will sighs, but Danny stands up and exclaims that they can still tie the game to go into over time. 

 

LaF wins the face-off and the puck goes to Kirsch, who passes it over to Danny.  Danny passes it to Laura and she takes it out into the neutral zone. She bounces the puck off the boards to get the puck around a defenseman and follows it into the offensive zone. Laura passes it back to Carmilla and heads to the front of the net.

Carmilla skates it forward, spinning to avoid the other defenseman.  Laura taps her stick on the ice, as she’s currently alone in front of the goalie, indicating that she’s asking for a pass.  The clock is winding down with seconds left in the game.  If Carmilla passes it to her and she gets a shot through, the game will be tied.

She sees Carmilla hesitate before she takes the shot herself.  The goalie blocks it effortlessly and the puck goes flying into the corner.  The buzzer signifies the end of the game.

 

Carmilla averts her gaze and skates away from Laura. This time, Laura doesn’t allow her.

“What the heck was that?” she demands.

Carmilla shrugs.  “I saw a shot and I took it.”

The opposing team is gathering around the goalie and pounding on him in celebration.

Danny and LaF skate alongside Laura and Carmilla.

“Why didn’t you pass to Laura?” Danny asks angrily. “She was wide open!”

Carmilla doesn’t answer, so LaF reaches out and grabs her by the arm.  “Answer!”

 

“Hey!” Will shouts from by the bench. They look over and he points at the other team, gathering in a line behind their goalie.

Carmilla takes the out and skates behind Perry to congratulate the other team’s players one-by-one with fist bumps.

The others follow suit, and they all head back to the locker room.

“That wasn’t a bad first game,” Will says, closing the door.

“Are you _kidding me_?” Danny growls.

Will shrugs.  “It can take a while for a team to find its rhythm.”

“Oh, come on!” LaF blurts out. Perry places a hand on their arm, indicating they should take a breath before speaking further, and they do. “We totally could’ve tied the game if _someone_ had passed to Laura!”

Carmilla scoffs.

“While that is true, it’s also true that no one on this team scored past the first period.  And it was also a combined effort that the other team scored three times afterwards.” He shakes his head. “Blaming Carmilla or any one player won’t make us improve for next time, so cut it out.  We’ll talk about what _will_ help us improve in a couple days at practice.  Am I clear?”

There was a collective, “Yes, coach.”

 

Carmilla was the first to leave the locker room. She walked into the parking lot and received a proud nod of approval from her mother, leaning against her car.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for all the feedback so far, guys! Nice to see some other hockey fans on here :D


	5. Mommy Issues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura visits Carmilla at work to try to get to know her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since the last chapter was so short, and this one's also pretty short, I decided to just post them both like twelve hours apart instead of keeping you guys waiting a full day :)

Carmilla’s shift as a skate guard at the rink has been more or less uneventful.  There are no parties going on, and only one kid has fallen hard enough to cry. She’s quickly making a couple rounds around the rink when she hears a familiar voice call out her name. She does a quick stop and turns towards the voice.

Laura Hollis is stepping onto the ice and reaches her in no time.  “Hey, Carmilla!” She gives her a warm smile.

Carmilla doesn’t return it.  “What are you doing here?”

Laura shrugs.  “I figure, we get free public skating with our ice hockey team membership, so why let it go to waste?”

“Aren’t you sick of the ice?”

Laura shakes her head.  “I could never get sick of the ice.  Besides, couldn’t I ask you the same thing?”

Carmilla rolls her eyes and starts to skate away.

Laura follows after her.  “Is that like a reflex or something with you? Is that just how you deal with not wanting to talk to people?”

Carmilla looks her straight in the eye. “Yes.”

 

Carmilla circles the rink once more before returning to the office while Laura has dropped back a bit.  She’s not surprised when she sees Laura approaching the office.

Laura leans against the doorframe.

“What is it, cutie?”

The girl bites her lip.  “Why didn’t you pass to me yesterday?”

Carmilla stares at her.  “You’re really not the type to let things go, are you?”

Laura grins and shakes her head.

Carmilla sighs.  “My mother was watching the game,” she says slowly.  “I wanted to score to make her proud.”  _So, a half-lie, half-truth_.

Laura raised an eyebrow.  “Your mother came to watch the game?”

“Yeah.  Actually, you saw her.”

Laura furrows her eyebrows.  “I did?”

Carmilla nods.  “The Dean?”

The tiny girl’s mouth drops open. “The Dean is your mother? Is that why you were hesitant about joining the team?”  Carmilla nods, although the second part is a lie.  “But th-that means that Coach Will is your…”

Carmilla rolls her eyes.  “I’m adopted.  My parents died a little while ago and the Dean adopted me because apparently she always wanted a daughter but never had a child other than Will.”

Laura stands there, absorbing the new information.

“So that’s why I didn’t pass to you. Mommy issues.”

 

Carmilla sits down at her desk. “So what’s the deal with you? You seem to already know the older players on the team, but Will told me you’re a freshman.”

“Oh,” Laura chuckles, sitting down on the chair across from Carmilla’s desk.  “I played with Danny, Kirsch, LaF, and Perry in the same leagues or teams around here while growing up.  So I’ve either played with or against all of them at some point.  They told me there was a team here, so I thought, ‘Why not?’”

“I see.”

“Carmilla, can I ask you something?”

“Would it matter if I say ‘no?’” Carmilla sighs.

Laura laughs dryly.

“Why didn’t you fist bump me during the game?”

Carmilla shrugs.  “That wasn’t really a thing in the all-girls league I used to play in. They’d just hug and I’m not much of a hugger.”

“Oh.  Okay. Well, uhm,” Laura fidgets with her hands a bit, “next time, don’t leave me hanging?”

Carmilla rolls her eyes.  “Fine, creampuff.”

“You have some very weird nicknames,” Laura says with a laugh.  She gets up from the chair to head back out to the rink for a few more laps, but hesitates in the doorway.  “Hey, Carm?”

“Hmm?”

“I’m sorry about your parents,” Laura says quietly.

Carmilla nods and mumbles a “Thanks.”

Laura flashes a small smile and leaves.

 

Carmilla leans back in her chair and watches the small girl circle around the rink and easily make friends with other skaters. She smiles.


	6. Hitting A Nerve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After another loss, the team starts to blame Carmilla again. Except this time, Laura defends her -- to her own detriment.

After the first game loss, the team goes on to lose the next one, but wins the next two games.  They aren’t pretty wins, but they are usually from a goal by Laura, who is clearly becoming the team’s most valuable player.  All her assists are coming from either Danny or Carmilla.

 

Game 5 starts off with a sudden burst of energy, with Laura scoring two goals within minutes and Carmilla scoring one towards the end of the period.

During the second period, the tables slowly start turning when the other team scores its first goal, and then scores two more by the middle of the third period.

With less than a minute left, it looks like the game will go into overtime as the face-off takes place in their zone.

Laura rushes off to cover the other team’s right defenseman. Danny gets body checked into the boards and is slow to get up, but LaF recovers the puck.  Carmilla abandons her defenseman to head over to help out where Danny should be.  LaF tries to clear the puck from their zone, but the puck hits the left defenseman’s stick, and an unexpected shot from the point soars past Perry.

 

The team heads into the locker room in a bitter silence following their loss.

“Why didn’t you cover your point?” Danny demands from Carmilla.  “Laura covered hers–– where were you?”

Carmilla looks offended and scoffs. “I dropped back to help you guys out because _someone_ was taking their sweet time in getting up after being hit.”  She threw her gloves off angrily.  “Besides, it’s not _my_ fault someone doesn’t know how to clear a damn puck out of our zone.”

Perry goes to tell LaFontaine not to take the bait, but they do anyway.  “Why don’t you shut the hell up, Karnstein?” they shout.

“Hit a nerve, did I?” Carmilla snaps back.

LaF jumps off their seat with their equipment half off, arms cocked.

Carmilla meets their challenge. “––Coz that’s not the only thing I can hit!”

“Back the hell off!” Danny roars, planting herself next to LaF.  “We have all _had it_ with your goddamn attitude!”

Kirsch stands up.  “Whoa, hotties, let’s not––”

“Shut up!” the three yell at him. Kirsch sits back down quietly next to Sarah Jane, who just pats him on the shoulder.  Perry, Natalie, and Elsie are trying to make themselves as small as possible.

 

“If everyone is so sick of me, why don’t I just leave, and one of these two useless children can take my spot on the first line,” Carmilla seethes.

Laura stands up hesitantly.  “Okay, I don’t think that’ll be––”

“––Yeah, maybe you should,” LaF spits out.

Danny scoffs.  “I don’t know _how_ Elle put up with your crap last year.”

Carmilla’s eyes widen and _clearly_ Laura has missed something because, _Who’s Elle?_

“Don’t you _dare_ talk about her,” Carmilla hisses.

Danny rolls her eyes.  “Who’s hitting a nerve, now?  What’s the matter?  Is an ex-girlfriend that dumped you last year a _sore_ _topic_ for you?”

Laura decides it’s enough because Carmilla is definitely getting way too angry for this conversation to remain non-violent, so she gets up to stand between LaF and Danny, and Carmilla, but, as usual, her timing is bad.

As soon as she stands to face Carmilla and block her from the other two, Carmilla winds up a punch and lets it fly, and a fist hits Laura square on the nose.

 

Laura lets out a yelp and her hands fly to her face. There are collective gasps from around the room.  Danny rushes to Laura and gingerly removes her hands, which are bloody.

Danny sucks in some air.  “I don’t think it’s broken, but––”  She frowns.

Natalie and Elsie rush out to get some ice and paper towels while the others sit Laura down.

Carmilla doesn’t move and stares at a spot on the floor.

Danny kneels in front of Laura but turns to face Carmilla.

“Get the _hell_ out of this locker room,” she snarls.

Laura shakes her head without thinking, and more blood comes out.

“Honey, no moving,” Perry says gently as Laura winces.

Elsie and Natalie return and Danny and LaF carefully rush to take care of Laura.  Sarah Jane and Perry are slowly removing Laura’s equipment to make things easier for them, handing the items to Kirsch, Natalie, and Elsie to put into Laura’s bag.

“Carm isn’t going anywhere,” she says once the bleeding is slowing down.

Danny scowls.  “Laura––”

 

“––No.  Just– just listen to me, okay?”  She gasps in pain as she shifts a bit to look at everyone in the room. “We may not have all played with Carmilla in the past and, yeah, she can have a rotten attitude, but remember what Will said that first game?  We can’t blame a loss on one player, especially when it wasn’t her fault. She dropped back to help the defense, and while that meant she wasn’t covering her point, it’s not like that was the deciding factor here.  We let in three goals before that and lost a three-nothing lead.”

Laura looks expectantly at Danny and LaF, and they grumble an agreement.

“Carmilla is not going anywhere.” She stands and walks over to Carmilla, who still hasn’t moved and is still looking down.  “Okay?”

Carmilla lifts her head up and looks mildly horrified and just slightly guilty.

“ _Okay_?”

She gives a small nod and goes to sit down to change in her now-usual corner of the locker room.

Laura lets out a small sigh of relief and sits back down.

“Laura?”  Carmilla’s voice is small.

Everyone’s heads turn to look at her and Carmilla swallows hard.

“Yeah?”

“I’m sorry.”

Laura smiles as best she can. “Apology accepted, Carm.”

The group goes back to its usual routine of ribbing each other.

 

Carmilla changes in silence and leaves. Her phone buzzes and she sees it’s a text from her mother.

“ _I’m waiting in the parking lot.  Good job in the game today.  Especially at the end._ ”

Carmilla closes her eyes and sighs deeply, frowning down at the blood on her hand––  Laura’s blood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't realize until now how short most my chapters were for this fic, so I'm probably going to wind up updating with less than a day between chapters until we hit some of the longer ones :) Hope you're enjoying the ride!


	7. Pick Me Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carmilla has car trouble on the way to practice. Lucky for her, Laura drives along the same route.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (FYI a "bender" is slang for a bad hockey player :P)

_This_ would _happen.  To me._ Carmilla delivers a swift kick to her car’s tire.  Her car’s deflated tire.

Her arm is draped across her trunk and she leans her head on it and groans.  She starts muttering curses under her breath when she hears a horn beep. She glances up and–– _of course_ –– it’s Laura.

Laura rolls the window down.  Her nose is still swollen and red.  “Car trouble?”

Carmilla sighs and nods.  “I forgot the spare tire after I took them out to make room for the hockey bag.”

“I have extra room in my trunk, if you want? You can throw your bag in there and call for a tow truck to come get the car while we’re at practice,” Laura offers.

Carmilla narrows her eyes.  “Not sure I feel up to practice with this mess, sweetie.”

Laura throws back her head in a laugh. “Are you telling me you don’t feel like blowing off some steam right now?”

Carmilla allows her lips to curl into a smile. She retrieves her hockey bag and anything else valuable and puts them in Laura’s spacey trunk and gets into the passenger seat.  After she hangs up with a tow truck company, she lets out a long sigh.

 

“I didn’t know you drive along this route,” Laura says.

Carmilla nods.  “Yeah, I live a couple miles back that way.”  She points behind them.

Laura’s eyes widen.  “So do I!  Wow, we actually live really close to each other.  We should carpool!”

Carmilla raises an eyebrow and doesn’t answer.

“Or not,” Laura responds, visibly deflating with a pout.

Carmilla chuckles.  “We can.”  She watches as Laura instantly beams and lights up the car.

 

“Carm, can I ask you something?”

“Would it matter if I say ‘no?’”

Laura smiles but doesn’t press further.

“What is it?”

Laura takes a deep breath.  “What was all that about Elle after our last game?”

Carmilla crosses her arms.

“Sorry, I didn’t meant to pry,” Laura says gently. “Just wanted to know what I got decked in the face over.”

Carmilla chances a look at Laura and Laura’s nose. She feels some guilt knowing she’s the one who hit her, and she _was_ an innocent bystander, but…  “Well, who told you to get in the way?” she snaps.  _Good going, Karnstein_.

Laura frowns a bit.  “I was trying to stop you and Danny from killing each other.” She gives Carmilla a wink. “And it worked, didn’t it?”

Carmilla laughs dryly.  “You’re insane, hon.”

Laura just laughs.

Carmilla picks at her fingernail polish. “She was my girlfriend,” she finally mutters.  She clears her throat and raises her voice slightly.  “We had a messy break-up and she transferred out of Silas.”

Laura nods sympathetically.  “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“I’m not some sob story,” Carmilla says quickly. “I don’t want you thinking just because my parents died and my girlfriend left me that I’m some pitiful puppy.”

Laura gives a wry chuckle.  “I get that.”

“Oh, do you?”  Laura nods.  “Care to elaborate?”

“Not really.”  Laura smirks.  “Otherwise I'll lose my air of mystery, won't I?”

“You are the least mysterious person I’ve ever met, buttercup.”

“And yet, I’m not the one that has to insist I’m not a ‘pitiful puppy.’”

Carmilla laughs mockingly and gives her a playful smack.

 

The ride turns silent for a few minutes before Laura hands her phone, connected to the car’s audio system, to Carmilla while keeping her eyes on the road.

“What do you want me to do with it?”

 

“I want you to eat it.”  Laura giggles.  “Pick a song, silly.”

Carmilla chuckles quietly and shakes her head. “You’re a dork.”

“Don’t you have any jams to pump you up for practice?”

Carmilla rolls her eyes.  “Why?  What does a bender like you jam out to?”

Laura’s jaw drops open in mock offense. “ _What_ did you call me?”

“I called you a ‘bender.’”  Carmilla grins.  “Don’t tell me you don’t know what that is?”

Laura reaches over to give her a playful smack back. “Of course I know what that is!”

“You’re such a bender,” Carmilla teases with a sneer. “You probably tape up your ankles and wore a cage on your helmet up until this season.”

Laura throws her head back in laughter and Carmilla catches herself wanting to keep the sound going.

“I _so_ regret picking your mean butt up off the side of the road,” Laura says.

Carmilla snickers and scrolls through the phone’s music choices.  “Thanks for that, by the way.”

“For what?  For giving you my phone and letting you call me a ‘bender?’”

Carmilla lets out a chuckle before replying. “No, you knucklehead. Thanks for picking me up and giving me a ride to practice.”  She hesitates before continuing.  “And thank you for sticking up for me in front of Danny and LaF, even after I hit you. You didn’t have to do that.”

“Oh,” Laura says with a giggle. “No problem, Carm.”

Carmilla tries really hard to stop smiling but fails.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading so far! Feedback welcome as always :)


	8. Break Even

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team's finally starting to play well together–– so much so that Carmilla's starting to find it hard to hate her teammates. Especially when she gets checked hard towards the end of one game...

Laura and Carmilla start carpooling to practices. When Laura drives her home, she shows Carmilla a stash of cupcakes, cookies, and other sweets that she keeps in her car to munch on after practices.  Carmilla never had much of a sweet tooth, but she’s so touched by Laura sharing food that she helps herself.

By the season’s ninth game, the team has won two more games, but have lost the two games going into it.

“Let’s break the losing streak, guys!” Danny yells in the huddle.

LaF nods emphatically.  “Let’s break even!”

Danny places her hand on Laura’s head and the others follow suit.  It’s been a running joke, since she _is_ the tiniest member on the team, and Danny counts down from three and the team raise their hands off Laura’s head and yell, “SILAS SIRENS!”

Carmilla gives Laura a small nudge on her shoulder pad before they take their positions at the opening face-off.

 

The first two periods remain scoreless, with both teams having plenty of scoring chances but not capitalizing on them. Perry is on her game today, stopping pucks from every direction.  Danny, Kirsch, and SJ are doing a better job communicating with her in the crease, telling her where the puck is if she’s sitting on it, and making sure there aren’t any players from the other team hovering in front of the net.

The opposing team also has players that are hangers, waiting along the edge of the neutral zone.  Laura realizes this late in the second period and tells the defense to keep an eye out for him. Players on the other team don’t just enjoy hanging, though.  They’re the most physical team they’ve faced yet, often opting to take the body instead of pursuing the puck.  All of them have been body checked at least once.

All in all, though, the team is starting to flow better together.

Even Carmilla is joining in team hugs after someone scores a goal, albeit reluctantly.  She still hasn’t agreed to hanging out with her teammates off the ice other than the rides with Laura, though, or when Laura stops by to skate while Carmilla has a shift.  So far, all the losses have technically been her fault, but the team seems to have gotten off her case.  Her mother did tell her to throw this game, never allowing them to have a win-lose average of 50-50 or above, so she’s looking for any opportunity to give the other team a goal. So far, though, the defense and Perry are playing sharp.

 

The game is halfway through the third period and still scoreless.  LaF manages to get the puck out from behind the net and throws it along the boards from the corner. Laura gets to it and hits Carmilla with a pass as she bursts into the offensive zone.  Knowing she’s supposed to throw the game, she just dumps it into their zone.

One of the defensemen doesn’t seem to care, however, and rams herself into Carmilla from the side she isn’t facing with a clean check.  Carmilla slams into the boards and slumps to the ice and doesn’t get up immediately. The player skates away, cackling.

“Hey!” Laura yells after her. “What the heck? She didn’t even have the damn puck!”

The other girl pivots and faces Laura. “What’s the matter? She can’t take a hit?” She sniggers.  “Only a bender would’ve dumped the puck like that instead of skating with it.”

 

Laura growls and shoves her.

“Watch it, short stuff,” the girl warns.

Laura shoves her again and before anyone can do anything, both of them have their gloves off and are throwing punches. Laura manages to get her opponent’s helmet off and continues punching until they both collapse on the ice, with Laura on top.

The referees pull Laura off and start to skate her towards the penalty box.  “This short stuff just kicked your ass, bitch,” Laura fires back.

By now, Carmilla is on her feet, looking only slightly winded.  She also has a grin plastered across her face and gives Laura a thumbs-up.

LaF is laughing and Danny starts banging her stick on the boards.  The others follow suit and only stop when the referee blows his whistle to indicate that the stoppage of play is over.

 

Carmilla takes her place at the face-off. She can’t stop grinning.

Did Laura really just go crazy on another player for hitting her?

Did Laura really just go crazy on another player for hitting her the same way Carmilla had hit her in that first practice? The way that Laura had insisted was fine?

Carmilla makes a snap decision and refuses to change her mind.

 

The puck is dropped and LaF wins the face-off, passing it back to SJ, who plays with it a bit before passing it to an open Carmilla.

Carmilla bursts down the ice with the puck, deking around the other team’s forwards and defensemen.  She dangles a bit after she reaches the hash marks and then fires a beautiful shot over the goalie’s shoulder pad into the net. LaF, SJ, and Kirsch come and give her hugs and fist bumps.

 

When Laura eventually leaves the penalty box and she joins Carmilla on the bench, she gives her a nice hard pat on her shoulder. “Sick short-handed goal,” Laura beams.

Carmilla returns a small smile. “Thanks for sticking up for me and going after the girl after that hit.”

“No problem, Carm.”

The final score is 1-0.

 

When Laura invites Carmilla for drinks with the team, the others don’t look nearly as disdained at the notion. She notices that Laura’s knuckles are bruised from her fight earlier.

Carmilla toys with the idea of saying yes before politely declining.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: As the only female on an all-male team and at a towering 5'0, my team huddles ended in the teammates' gloves on my head when bringing it in ;)


	9. Over Board

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura tells Carmilla about her own mother, while Carmilla's orders prove to be overly detrimental to Laura.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's a little bit longer than the others :) Enjoy!

Carmilla walks out of the locker room and almost bumps into the Dean.

“Mother.”

The Dean’s lips are spread thin and Carmilla involuntarily gulps.  “Nice short-handed goal,” she says, completely insincerely.

“I––”

“Next practice, I want you to hit Laura so hard she can’t play in the next game.”  She says it very matter-of-factly, leaving no room for arguments. “Am I clear?”

Carmilla starts to protest but the Dean stares her down.

“ _Am I clear?_ ”

“Yes ma’am,” Carmilla says through gritted teeth.

 

The next day at practice, Carmilla is the last one to leave the locker room.  Kirsch and SJ are skating laps together, while Danny skates with them every so often to rib Kirsch about something.  LaF is firing shots at Perry from different directions, and Laura is standing and talking to Natalie and Elsie, throwing her head back in laughter.

Carmilla bites her lip because Laura’s laughter is so pure and unabashed, and she’s not the one causing it. She skates over to her.

“Hey, shortbread.  Whacha laughing about?”

“Hey, Carm!”  Laura smiles at the other girl and Carmilla finds herself smiling back. “I was telling Natalie and Elsie about the time I wanted to bake my skates but my dad was too busy to take me to get it done, so I threw them in the oven in our kitchen.”

Carmilla cackles.  “Oh, you didn’t!”

“Yup!  Rest in peace, my pair of Bauer One60 skates.”  Laura is laughing again.  “I had absolutely no idea what I was doing and my dad almost _killed_ me.”

Will steps onto the ice and looks at the four of them. “Is this practice, or hang-out time in the cafeteria?”

They all start skating around and stick handling the pucks laying around.  “Sorry coach,” Laura muttered.

 

“Your mom wasn’t mad?” Carmilla asks, playfully stealing the puck from Laura before passing it back to her.

“Hmm?”  Laura fires the puck down the ice before picking up another one and nudging it towards Carmilla.

“Was your mom mad about you melting your skates in the kitchen oven?”

“Oh.”

Laura picks up another puck and handles it for a bit. She does say anything for a while, and Carmilla is about to start a new conversation when Laura finally answers.

“I melted them in middle school. She wasn’t around anymore when that happened.”  She drops the puck back and kicks it forward with her skate to meet the blade of her stick. “She died when I was eight. Car accident.”

Carmilla is so taken aback that she loses control of the puck and leaves it behind.  “I- uh… I’m sorry.  I didn’t know.”

Laura shrugs and passes her puck to Carmilla, pivoting so she’s going backwards.  They gently pass the puck back and forth.

“It was tough on my dad and I, so I threw myself into hockey.  Danny, Kirsch, LaF, and Perry were there for me the most.  It’s also probably why they’re so overprotective of me and were so mad at you after that first practice.  The coaches for the squirt league were super understanding and gave me more ice time. I was a natural at doing the Michigan trick by the time I was in the peewee league.”

Carmilla considers making a comment about how Laura’s now lost her air of mystery, but instead dekes around Laura and Laura turns so now she’s skating forwards while Carmilla is going backwards. They continue passing the puck back and forth.  “What’s the Michigan trick?”

 

“Ha.  You know,” Laura says, keeping the puck.

She presses the tip of the blade of her stick on top of the puck and tilts the puck so it’s on the ice at an angle and then lifts it onto the blade so that the puck is now resting on the blade. She carries the puck on stick almost horizontally for a couple strides before twirling while holding the stick vertically and the puck goes flying off the blade and into the net past Perry. LaF taps their stick on the ice in approval.

Carmilla is visibly impressed. “Wow, I never knew that had a name. And I’ve never seen someone do it in front of me before.”

Laura giggles and they skate for a bit before Laura points in the stands.  Will has whistled that warm-ups are over and practice is about to begin.

 

“Oh, look.  It’s the Dean–– err, your mother.”

Carmilla freezes for a bit and looks at where Laura’s pointing.  Sure enough, her mother is sitting with a raised eyebrow before she flashes a forced grin and waves. Carmilla offers a grimaced smile.

“I wonder why she’s here,” Laura says, skating off to get in line for the first drill.

“Yeah.”  Carmilla chances another look towards the Dean and the smile is gone. Her lips are pressed together and she points at Laura.  Carmilla swallows hard, nods, and skates to join the others.

 

Carmilla tries her best to not allow Laura and her to be opponents during drills, which the smaller girl seems to be fine with helping make happen.  Most of the practice results in Carmilla and Laura assisting each other with goals. It isn’t until the last drill, with ten minutes left when Will separates them specifically and they wind up on opposite sides.

Laura is playing on a line with Natalie, with Elsie and LaF on defense and Perry in their net.  Carmilla is with Danny, Kirsch, and SJ.

Carmilla catches a glimpse of her mother, who gives her a malicious wink.  Will whistles the start of the drill and throws a puck in front of Carmilla, who drops it back to SJ.

Carmilla skates ahead while SJ passes it to Kirsch. Laura and Natalie put pressure on him, so he takes a few strides and passes it to Danny.  Laura poke checks the puck away and Elsie gets to it, wrapping it around Perry and fires it along the boards.  Natalie reaches it and hits Laura with a pass, and she tries to weave around SJ, but is forced to the other side of the boards, near the benches.

Laura dekes and manages to go around her, but has no time to brace herself as Carmilla comes barreling over and checks Laura as hard as she can.

 

Carmilla barely holds back a gasp as she watches Laura flip over the boards and into the bench, slamming her side into the seats. Laura lays motionless inside as Danny hops the boards.

“Laura!  Oh, geez…  Laura!” Laura is lying facedown and still unmoving.

Carmilla starts to default to staring down at the ice but scraps that idea and hops the boards, too.

“I didn’t mean to hit her so hard,” she mutters to Danny, whose face visibly softens, but the scowl remains. The lie just makes Carmilla feel worse.

Laura finally stirs a bit and manages to prop herself up on her hands and knees, facing Carmilla.  She turns to look at Danny, but winces at the motion.

 

“Whoa, careful, there, Hollis,” Danny says softly. “You might have a concussion.”

“I don’t think so, I think I’m just winded.” Laura gingerly removes her helmet and takes a deep breath, but gasps in pain.

“What is it?” LaF asks.

“My ribs hurt.”

Will sighs and looks at Carmilla, who has a reassuring hand on Laura’s shoulder.

“Laura, I am so––”

“Let’s just get her to the locker room and we can assess her there,” Will says.  “Can you get up?”

Laura tries to stand up but doesn’t quite manage to, and Danny and Carmilla help her up.  Carmilla exits the bench and helps Laura step onto the ice, while Danny opens the door from the rink.  Kirsch is carrying Laura’s helmet.

The team pours into the locker room, but Carmilla hesitates in the doorway.

“Aren’t you coming in?” Laura asks as Perry and Kirsch help her sit down.  Carmilla bites her lip.  “What the matter? I thought you’d want to assess the damage for bragging rights.”

Carmilla doesn’t move.

“Come on, silly head,” Laura insists with as much of a giggle as she can muster.  “It was a good hit. You just went a little _overboard_ ,” she puns with a wink.

"If you weren't injured, I would slap you," LaF retorts.

 

Carmilla swallows hard and enters, while Danny closes the door behind her.

“I’m sorry,” she mutters.  “I’m really sorry.”

Elsie and Natalie are helping Laura remove her jersey and shoulder pads.  SJ and Kirsch go out to get ice ready.

Danny gently lifts Laura’s shirt. There is a massive bruise forming. “I’m going to touch it, okay?”

Laura nods and Danny presses her fingers lightly against the area.  Laura sucks in a breath and Carmilla is holding her hand on the other side while Laura squeezes it.

“I don’t think anything is broken,” Danny says, letting Laura’s shirt go.

LaF gives a laugh.  “Nothing can stop Laura Hollis!”

Kirsch and SJ enter and hand the ice packs to Natalie and Elsie to hold against Laura’s neck and side.  Laura thanks them and offers a warm smile.

Will crosses his arms and scowls. “I’m not sure if you should play in the next game.”

Laura shakes her head, which she immediately regrets and a hand shoots up to her temple.  Elsie moves the ice pack away from her neck and closer to her head.

“Coach, I’ll be fine!”  Laura’s voice cracks and she clears her throat. “At least give me until tomorrow night?”

Will huffs and gives her a skeptical look.

“I mean, if nothing is broken and she doesn’t have a concussion, I don’t see the problem,” Perry points out. “She was able to walk well enough.”

Natalie carefully removes an ice pack from Laura’s side.  “Yeah, it’s just gonna be a massive bruise, but it looks like it’ll be okay if she takes care of it.”

 

Will throws his hands up in surrender. “Okay, okay, fine. Let me know by tomorrow night, Laura.” He turns and exits the locker room.

The others slowly start taking off their equipment. Danny lingers but Laura gives her a smile and says she’s fine.  Carmilla remains next to her, still holding her hand.

 

“I guess it’s a good thing it was your turn to drive tonight, huh?”  Laura grins but Carmilla is still frowning.

“Laura, I’m so sorry.”

Laura lets go of Carmilla’s hand and Carmilla can’t stop the pout that results.  Laura immediately places a hand on Carmilla’s knee and squeezes the shin guard over it, but it’s the thought that counts.

“Carm, it’s fine, okay?  Don’t blame yourself.  It was a good hit.”  She flashes another grin. “I’m just _super_ aerodynamic.”

Carmilla gives a weak laugh.

“Now get changed and drive me home!”

 

Carmilla stands and starts to head to where she left her hockey bag in the corner, but pivots and walks back and plants a soft kiss on Laura’s head.  Laura giggles.

Carmilla walks away and checks her phone to see a text from her mother: “ _Perfect job during practice tonight, darling._ ”  She throws her phone into her bag.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: One of my teammates did that with his skates-- baked them incorrectly at home and they melted. Hahaha.


	10. Sure, Why Not?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After finally having a winning record, Laura asks Carmilla to join the others in getting dinner.

Up until game 15, the team has remained at a record either even in wins and losses, or with more losses than wins.

“This is the game that changes!” Danny shouts into the huddle.  They forgo counting off from Laura’s head this time.  Will has given into the pressure from the team to allow Laura to play in the game.

“3… 2… 1…”

“SILAS SIRENS!”

The first line skates away and heads towards the opening face-off at center ice.

Carmilla gently bumps her shoulder against Laura’s. “Hey, creampuff. How are you feeling?”

She can relax a little bit at this game, since her mother is away at some conference.  In fact, she has a bunch of conferences coming up.  Will doesn’t seem to really mind their camaraderie, either because he thinks Carmilla is faking it, or because he’s enjoying coaching the team more than he’d admit.

Laura smiles. Carmilla had already texted her last night to ask how she was and Laura had answered that her head still hurt a bit and her side was still tender and throbbed.

“I'll feel better if we win,” she says with a grin. Carmilla chuckles and takes her spot at the circle.

 

The game remains scoreless well into the third period of the game. Laura’s shifts are shorter than usual, so Elsie and Natalie are picking up more ice time. That is, until Natalie gets called on a penalty for cross checking and winds up in the penalty box.

Danny gets off the bench to switch with SJ on the ice. “You should put Laura out on the penalty kill with Carmilla,” she suggests to Will.

LaFontaine pats Laura’s shoulder. “Yeah, coach, we need our dynamic duo out there!”

“She can't take the long shift,” he points out.

Laura shakes her head. “Put me in, coach!”

Will clenches his jaw before waving his hand and gestures for Elsie to get off the ice.

Laura joins Carmilla at the face-off dot. She beams at Carmilla.

“You ready to do this?” Laura asks.

Carmilla smiles and nods.

 

Carmilla wins the face-off and drops the puck back to Kirsch, who plays with it a bit before passing it to Danny. Danny fires it along the boards towards Laura, but the other team’s forward gets to it first and fires a quick shot at Perry. There's another forward waiting in front the net, but Danny lifts her stick to prevent her from scoring on a rebound. Carmilla reaches over and gets the puck away from the crease and tries to get it out of their zone, but it's intercepted by the opposing team’s defenseman, who winds back and releases a hard slap shot at the net. Laura skates in front to block it, but the puck hits the side that's still sore, and she loses her balance and falls.

The blocked shot bounces into the corner and Kirsch goes to get it.

Laura is slow in getting up. Carmilla fights the urge to go over and check on her and instead goes to an empty spot on the ice.

Kirsch passes the puck to Danny and she gets a clear pass to Carmilla. By now, Laura is up and the two of them are bursting out of their zone.

The other team’s defense pinch towards Carmilla, so she passes it over to Laura, who dekes around their center. The wingers are waiting for Laura, however, but she sees that Carmilla has out-skated the defenseman and Carmilla gets a nice pass from her.

The center is standing in front of the goalie, so Carmilla takes it behind the net and wraps it around. Laura is already positioned correctly, so Carmilla drops it in front of her. Laura wastes no time in taking the shot, and manages to get it between the goalie’s blocker and knee pad.

 

Danny and Kirsch rush over and hug Laura.

“Awesome shot handed goal, dudes!” Kirsch yells, giving Carmilla a fist bump as he skates towards center ice. Danny gives Laura an extra squeeze and also gives Carmilla a fist bump.

“Good stuff, Karnstein,” she says.

Carmilla skates over to Laura and gently bops her on the helmet. “Feeling better, yet?”

Laura nods as they heads towards the face-off. “Let’s do this, you and me, Carm.”  She grins.

 

That was the last goal scored in the game and for the first time, all their hard work has paid off. The final buzzer sounds and they swarm Perry and chatter happily on the way to the locker room.

It's slow-going for Laura as she changes, and her shirt rides up enough that she winces, getting Danny’s attention.

The bruise looks a lot worse than it did after practice.

“Holy hell, Hollis,” Danny exclaims. “That’s probably the worst bruise I've ever seen!”

Carmilla has finished changing and pauses by them on her way out of the locker room.  “That was a pretty hard hit during the penalty kill,” she says softly. “Are you okay?”

Laura smiles at her.  “Like there was any way in hell or Hogwarts that I would let some bruised ribs stop me?”  She shook her head.  “I’m fine, thanks.” Carmilla starts to say something, but Laura cuts her off.  “And don’t you dare apologize again.”

Carmilla narrows her eyes at her but grins and starts to leave.

“Ooh, wait!  Carm, we’re about to go out for some dinner, wanna join?”

Carmilla hesitates but sees the others smiling back at her, Danny included.  She shrugs with a smile.

“Sure.  Why not?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so grateful for all the feedback you guys have been giving me! Hope you're all enjoying it so far :)


	11. Table for Nine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carmilla finally hangs out with the team outside of practices and games.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FYI, for anyone that needed one or asked for one, the first chapter of the story is now a handy-dandy glossary for any hockey terminology you have been unfamiliar with! Feel free to make further requests for more terms or clarifications!

The team bursts into a large sports bar and grill, still buzzing from their win.

Laura is just getting off the phone with her dad, excitedly rambling about the goal she and Carmilla scored. Carmilla vaguely remembers Laura mentioning she calls her dad after every game and texts with him every day.

The hostess greets Danny.  “Hey, guys!  The usual?”

“Plus one,” Danny says, pointing to Carmilla. “So, table for nine, please!”

She nods.  “Just sit in your usual table and I’ll have them set one more place for you guys, okay?”

Danny thanks her and the team heads over. Carmilla is more or less attached to Laura, who waves at the hostess as they walk by.  “Take it easy tonight, Lisa!”

The hostess laughs.  “I’ll try, Laura.”

They turn into the main eating area of the restaurant and the team is more or less already seated at a large, long table. Kirsch and Sarah Jane are next to each other, followed by Natalie and Elsie next to SJ, then Perry and LaFontaine. Danny sits next to Kirsch so that there’s space between her and LaF.  Laura sits next to Danny and Carmilla sits between her and LaF.

 

“You ever been here before?” Laura asks, opening up the menu in front of her.

Carmilla shakes her head.

The team suddenly realizes how hungry they all are and the chatter dies down while they pore over their menus.

It isn’t until everyone has ordered their food that Laura turns her attention back to Carmilla.

“So, what’s your major?” Laura asks.

“Philosophy.”

Laura laughs.  “I could see that.”  Carmilla gives her a quizzical look.  “Your attempts to be dark and broody just scream ‘philosophy major.’”

Carmilla scoffs.  Laura has already spoken about being a journalism major, hoping to become a sports journalist.  “Whatever, Lois Lane.”

“I think I prefer your sweet edible nicknames,” Laura pouts.

Carmilla chuckles.  “That bunched up little face you make when you're angry is hilarious, buttercup.” Laura gives her a playful smack.

 

“You guys car pool, right?” LaF asks next to them. “Do you live anywhere near the Dean?”

Carmilla swallows hard.  She always makes sure to be the first one to leave the locker room after a game so no one would know–– except Laura, of course. Lying to the team is getting more and more difficult, and suddenly she’s regretting agreeing to come.

Will had agreed with her outside the locker room that continuing to refuse to spend time with them outside of practices and games would start to send up some red flags, and Carmilla told him she would take the bus home.  Of course, she was actually getting a ride from Laura, but he didn’t have to know that.

“Yeah,” Laura answers vaguely for Carmilla when she freezes.

LaF snorts.  “I can’t imagine stuff like just bumping into her while shopping.”

“Why not?” Perry asks, smiling in amusement. Carmilla shifts in discomfort.

“Why don’t you tell Carmilla about the new research project you’re working on, LaF?” Laura suggests.  Carmilla gently squeezes her leg under the table in appreciation.

“Oh, well, we’re studying whether synthesizing gold nanoparticles is influenced by time, concentration, or temperature,” they start answering immediately.  “If we find out the answer, it could have huge implications for fields like materials science, biochemistry, electron microscopy, electronics, biomedical, and nanotechnology.” They begin talking about drug delivery methods and imaging processes involving nanoparticles and Carmilla nods every so often, feigning looking impressed while her thoughts are still stuck on Laura.

 

“You okay?”

LaF has since stopped talking and is shouting some teasing insult to Elsie across Perry about taping her stick incorrectly.

Carmilla nods.  “Why are you protecting me?” she whispers.

“I don’t think of it as protecting,” Laura shrugs. “It’s just that you were starting to frown and, as cute as that looks, you’re even more adorable when you’re smiling.”

“I am _not_ ‘cute’ or ‘adorable.”  Carmilla glares, and Laura starts laughing.

 “The important thing is that _you_ believe that,” she teases.

Carmilla rolls her eyes.  “I just meant…”  She trails off and sighs, biting her lip, wondering if she should continue.

“If it’s because I called you ‘cute’ and ‘adorable’ that you’re hesitant to give me a heart-to-heart, please don’t be,” Laura insists with a smile.  “You can even frown while saying it.”

Carmilla chuckles.  “I just meant that you’re the best winger I’ve ever played with,” she says sincerely.  “On and off the ice.” Her mind wanders back to how Laura had stuck up for her in the team’s locker room after that fifth game, and then defended her in that ninth game after she had gotten checked hard.

 

The wait staff starts bringing the food out and they’re digging in without much conversation for a while. Laura is having a seafood combo, while Carmilla has a monster of a 20 oz. steak in front of her.

Danny turns her attention from Kirsch, who has some mustard streaked across his face, and faces Laura.  “Did you still need help with your assignment?” she asks, taking a bite from her burger.

“I think I’ll be fine, but can you check it really quickly tomorrow?”

Carmilla takes a bite from her steak. “Are you guys in the same class?”

“I’m her TA,” Danny answers.  “ _Someone_ missed class yesterday because she couldn’t get out of bed from being in too much pain after being hit in practice.”  She quickly flashes a smile at Carmilla.  “ _Kidding_.”

Carmilla forces a grimaced smile.

“And yes, Laura, I can check it tomorrow.”

Laura beams at her.  “Thank you!”

 

Danny looks over at Carmilla. “You know Laura and I are on the school paper, right?”

“You guys work the sports beat, right?”

“Yep,” Danny says, nodding.  “Anyway, we’ve been assigned to go to the Styria Styx professional hockey team.”

Carmilla quirks an eyebrow.  “Both of you are covering one game?”

“No, silly.”   Laura giggles.  “Danny’s covering the game, and I was hoping to make it a team outing for us.”

“Would you like to come with us?”

Carmilla takes another bite of her steak. “Would it matter if I say ‘no?’” Laura gives her a playful swat. “What?  I’m just saying, it’s hard to make it a team outing if I’m not there.”

Laura gives a horrified, exaggerated gasp. “You’d single-handedly ruin my story?” She fakes being hurt, clasping her hands over her heart.  “What ever happened to ‘you’re the best winger I’ve ever played with?’”

Carmilla rolls her eyes with a grin. “Maybe I don’t feel like sharing you.”

 

Laura blushes.

“It’s a yes,” Carmilla says, looking over at Danny.

Danny smiles back and gives her a thumbs-up. “Awesome.  We’ll decide on a game tomorrow, right, Laura?”

Laura nods and Danny turns back around when Kirsch throws a dirty napkin at the back of her head.

“Bring it, popped collar!” she yells, getting up to twist his ear.  SJ is laughing and making no motion to stop this.

 

* * *

 

Laura drives Carmilla back to her house and gets out of the car to say goodnight.

“Thanks for saying ‘yes’ to the game, Carm.”

Carmilla smiles fondly.  “Well, thanks for inviting me out tonight. And for driving me home.” She leans over to hug the smaller girl, who returns the hug warmly.  Carmilla squeezes and feels Laura tense up and wince.

Carmilla immediately lets go. “Are you okay?”

“I think the adrenaline and pain killers wore off,” Laura says with a chuckle.  “I should probably go home and ice down my side.”

Carmilla frowns.  “I’m so––”

“No apologizing!”  Laura laughs.  “It’s not like you were trying to hurt me with that hit!”  She walks back to her car and waves.  “Good night, Carm!”

Carmilla watches her drive away and tries to swallow the guilt, but it’s pooling in her stomach.  She gives a long exhale before walking into the house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you're enjoying the ride as much as I am :)


	12. Snow Time Like The Present

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When the team looks like they're about to be shutout, Laura and Carmilla manage to fire up their teammates.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys!! Don't forget that if there is any hockey terminology that you may not know, I'm updating the glossary in the first chapter with every update :D

The team has been flourishing lately, a few games past the halfway point of the season.  The Dean has been trying to devise new ways to get the team to lose, but with conferences, she hasn’t had much time for scheming, and Will seems only slightly more committed to the cause than Carmilla is, much to her relief.

They’re at twelve wins and eight losses, but are on a three game winning streak.  Danny has encouraged them that they can extend it to four games.

 

It doesn’t look good.

 

By the third period, the other team has scored two goals.

“We cannot get shut out!” Danny yelled as he got onto the bench.  “We need to defend Perry better in the crease!”

Laura and Carmilla are waiting to jump back onto the ice and wince as Natalie and Elsie almost let another defenseman take a shot past Perry.  LaF manages to block it before it can hit Perry, and throws it out of the zone.

Natalie is back to the bench first, and Carmilla jumps the boards and goes to put pressure on the opponent’s defenseman. Laura watches as Elsie approaches the bench and sees that one of the forwards is hanging back in the neutral zone. As soon as she switches with Elsie, she goes to cover him.

“Caught me, huh, babe?”

Laura continues to shadow him. “You think I can’t spot a hanger?”

The puck comes from the other zone and the two race to get to it.  He checks Laura so she falls, and she scrambles to her feet, but he’s already on his way towards Kirsch and SJ.

SJ manages to poke the puck away from him and Kirsch goes to get it, but the hanger isn’t above stopping right in front of Perry, snowing her.

 

Carmilla and Laura are skating side by side and look at each other.  A silent conversation is had, and an agreement made.  They both charge the man in front of their net, with Laura shoving him into Carmilla and Carmilla shoving him to the ground.

“That’s for our goalie,” Carmilla growls.

Another player has come up behind Laura to defend him and harshly shoves her forward, and she loses her footing and hits her head against the cross bar and collapses to the ice.

Carmilla is on the opponent in an instant, dropping her gloves, and punches her square in the nose, causing blood to trail down her face.

The referee puts both Laura and Carmilla into the penalty box, and the girl who had shoved Laura into the other box.

Perry thanks them as they skate away and LaF gives them both fist bumps before positioning themselves at the face-off circle with Danny and Kirsch.

“Are you okay?” Carmilla asked Laura, who has blood rushing down her face from a cut on her hairline.  There’s also a bruise forming around it.

 

Laura nods.  “Coach is gonna be pissed,” Laura finally says with a laugh. “We’re already down 2-0 and now they have a one-man advantage.”

Carmilla chuckles.  “But it was worth it, though.”

“Yeah.  No one snows our goalie!”

They watch as LaF wins the face-off and drops the puck back to Danny, who dekes around two forwards and passes it to Kirsch. He passes it to LaF, who has a huge burst of speed and manages to get it out of their zone.

Everyone watches as they continue to take the puck around both defensemen, and fires it.  The puck zooms right past the goalie’s blocker.

 

Carmilla laughs.  “I think we got the team fired up, cupcake.”

LaF, Kirsch, and Danny line up at center ice. LaF loses the face-off, but Kirsch checks one of the forwards and LaF gets to the puck and passes it to Danny, who is wide open.  She takes several strides with it before spinning away from a defenseman along the boards and wraps it around the net before firing it off a backhand.  The puck soars over the goalie’s pad for another short-handed goal.

The other bench is starting to look uneasy. The penalty kill ends and Laura and Carmilla return to the ice.  Laura takes over as center forward, while Elsie joins Carmilla as a winger once LaF makes the change.  Danny gets off the ice while SJ skates on.

The puck remains in the offensive zone with a minute left, and it looks like they will go into overtime as the puck is shot out from the corner.  SJ keeps it in the zone, passing it to Elsie.  Elsie gives it a touch pass to Carmilla.

The defense swarms her, so she just shoots it in front of the net.  Laura has already read the situation correctly and gives the puck a strong wrist shot and it slides right past the goalie’ skate.

Carmilla rushes over to Laura and hugs her, and the others join while those on the bench bang their sticks and offer fist bumps.

There’s only ten seconds left on the clock, so they line up at the face-off, the puck goes into the offensive zone, and the buzzer sounds.

 

The team pours into the locker room. Carmilla has finally moved out of her corner of the locker room and into the locker next to Laura.

Laura noticed, of course, but knew better than to say anything.  She’d just smiled and continued dressing.

Kirsch is pumping his fist and strides over, grabbing Laura into a large hug.  “You dudes got us all fired up with that display in front of Perry!”  He gives Carmilla a hug, as well, albeit a smaller one.

“Thanks for that, by the way,” Perry offers with a bright smile.

 “Nobody snows our goalie like that and gets away with it,” Laura says with a wink.

Carmilla smiles politely as she starts changing. She makes a mental note to remember to text Laura later tonight to ask how her head is feeling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the great feedback, you awesome peeps!


	13. The Timing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team goes out to bond by watching a professional game together. Laura wants to have a serious talk with Carmilla.

Carmilla is already regretting this. ‘This,’ being agreeing to go with the team to see a game.  By the time she shows up to the seat on her ticket, Danny, LaF, Perry, and Laura are already there and sitting together in one row. Her seat is in the row in front of theirs. She makes her way to her seat.

Laura waves excitedly as Carmilla approaches. “Hey, Carm!”

Carmilla resists the urge to say, “I was hoping we’d sit together,” and just waves back instead.

Kirsch and SJ show up next, and Laura greets them. Then, she hops over to the seat next to Carmilla.

“Hey, cutie.”  She tries not to look too happy to see Laura has changed her seat.

Laura holds out her hand. “Lemme see your ticket.”

“Am I being kicked out already?” Carmilla teases.

Laura giggles. “No, you dumb-dumb. We’re having the people who've been on the team since last year sit together, and the new players sit in this row.” Carmilla handed her the ticket. “This row will be us, Natalie, SJ, and Elsie. Danny, Kirsch, Perry, and LaF are behind us.”

Laura looks at the ticket and sees Carmilla is in the right row and gives it back to her.

“I invited Betty, too, but she’s still kinda… bitter.” Carmilla quirks an eyebrow. “About us replacing her with such an awesome teammate,” she adds with a giggle.

 

Carmilla’s mother had been skeptical about her going out with the team tonight, but relented when she insisted that it was for an article in the school paper.

Laura is buzzing with excitement and talking excitedly to Danny, who’s behind her, about her journalism class. Carmilla isn't catching much, but to be fair she's not really listening. Laura just looks so damn cute in a hockey jersey when she doesn't have gear on underneath it, and the cut on her head from the scuffle in front of Perry is healing nicely. She's waving her hands while she talks, as she often does. Her lips twist while she does some imitation of her professor, which Carmilla guesses is spot on, because Danny laughs really hard.

 

Carmilla likes girls. She's always liked girls. What she isn't sure of is, is how long she's liked _Laura Hollis_.

She knows she's always enjoyed her company ever since they started carpooling. She knows that she's started taking a lot longer in the locker room now that she's in the one next to Laura. She knows that their already-strong on-ice chemistry is only growing stronger. And she knows that Laura is the first person who's made her feel like she isn't alone in this world—at least, since her parents passed away.

The others soon show up and Laura makes conversation with them while Carmilla remains quiet as usual.

 

The Styria Styx step out onto the ice and the arena erupts in cheers.

Halfway through the first period, the row with the returning members leaves and returns with cups of beer and passes them to the younger row.

“This?  It never happened,” Danny says with a laugh and a wink.

Carmilla pretends to lock her lips and throw away the key.

“And it’s totally a one-time thing,” Perry adds, slightly more strictly.

LaF mouths _No it’s not_ and receives a swat from Perry.

 

The game has reached a bit of a lull halfway through the third period, with the Styria Styx winning 5-0 by the time Laura decides to lean her head on Carmilla’s shoulder.

Carmilla smiles before remembering that Elle used to do the same thing.  Elle, who had found out about how damaged Carmilla really was.  Elle, who turned Carmilla away and ran as far as she could upon discovering it.  Elle, who almost made Carmilla felt like she belonged.  _Elle_.

Laura must have sensed a sudden shift in the other girl, because she removes her head from Carmilla’s shoulder.

 

“You okay?”

“Yeah.”  Even she knows it doesn’t sound convincing.

“Hmm.”  Laura bites her lip.  “Was it not okay for me to put my head on your shoulder?”

Carmilla shakes her head.  “I-I mean, yeah, it was fine.  It was just…”

“It reminded you of Elle?”

Carmilla’s eyes widened.

“Wow, I’m sorry,” Laura says, smacking herself on the forehead. “That was dumb for me to say. And out of line. And dumb.  I am the Queen of No-Tact Land and––”

Carmilla laughs and puts her hand reassuringly on Laura’s knee.  “You are such a dork. And in no way dumb or Queen of any ridiculously-named land.”

Laura breathes a sigh of relief and slowly puts her head back on Carmilla’s shoulder.

 

“Would you be okay giving me a lift home tonight?”

“What’s the matter, cupcake?  That one beer really did you in?” Carmilla teases.

“No,” Laura says, laughing.  “Danny drove me here, and she was gonna give me a ride back, but I wanted…  I wanted to talk to you about something.”

“Well, that doesn’t seem ominous at all.”

Laura giggles and holds Carmilla’s hand in hers. “You know me–– I love dark, gloomy conversations.”

Carmilla laughs and they remain silent for the rest of the game.

 

Right after the game ends, Laura gathers the team outside the stadium and asks a passerby to take a picture. It receives Laura’s approval.

Carmilla and Laura say goodnight to the rest of the team before getting in her car.  While they wait for the car to warm up, Laura calls her dad really quickly to talk about the game and update him that Carmilla is driving her home, not Danny. They spend a couple minutes in silence after Laura hangs up.

“So, you wanted to talk?” Carmilla says, clearing her throat.

“Huh?”  Laura furrows her eyebrows.  “Oh! Right. Doy.”  She giggles and wrings her hands nervously.

“Laura?”

“Hmm?”

“What is it?”  Carmilla could just reach over and strangle this girl sometimes.

Laura sighs.  “Before you got to the game tonight, the others were telling me what they’d heard about you and Elle.”

 _Yup, definitely should’ve strangled her_.  “And?”

Laura shrugs.  “They told me you were both in the female campus acapella group, and then you started dating, and then…”  She doesn’t miss the way Carmilla’s knuckles whiten as her grip tightens on the steering wheel. “What happened to you guys?”

Carmilla bites the inside of her cheek. “Why the hell is it any of your business?  Why were they even talking to you about this?”  She doesn’t mean to sound so harsh, but it comes out mean enough that Laura visibly winces. This car ride can’t end fast enough.

“I’m not trying to be nosy,” she insists quietly. “It’s just…”

Laura looks like she’s about to cry, so Carmilla tries to lighten her tone.  “‘It’s just,’ what?”

 

Laura takes a deep breath.  “It’s just that… I like you.  I really like you, and I was wondering if maybe you wanted to… go out sometime?”

She starts blushing more than Carmilla has ever seen her blush.

“And I blurted out that I wanted to ask you out to the others, and they told me how serious you were with Elle, and I just wanted to know what happened because if you’re still hurting or hung up on her, then I’m not gonna infringe on that, and I’ll give you space, it’s just I wanted to know what I’m dealing with or what I’m up against––”

Carmilla laughs, cutting Laura off.

Laura looks even more hurt now and pouts and _damn she looks cute_.

“Laura, hon, Elle and I are over,” she says, still chuckling at the other girl’s outburst.  “It hurt, and I’m not going to tell you all of what happened, just because… Well, it _still_ hurts.”  She exhales deeply. “I’m just not ready to go out with anyone, yet.”

Carmilla tries to keep staring at the road ahead of her.  It wasn’t so much that she wasn’t ready. It was more that she didn’t want to see that look in Laura’s eyes–– the same one she saw in Elle’s, before Elle had called it quits.

She finally chances a look over to the passenger’s seat, expecting Laura to be angry, or sad, or ready to argue. Instead, Laura looks at her with sympathy and understanding.

 

“I’m sorry, Laura.”

Laura scoffs.  “Carm, what are you apologizing for?”  She gives the girl a gentle nudge.  “I’m totally okay with us remaining friends.  I’m just glad we got some stuff out in the open.”

Carmilla tries to swallow her guilt. “Right.”

Laura turns on the radio and they don’t speak for the rest of the short ride until Carmilla pulls up to the front of Laura’s house.

“Thanks for the lift,” Laura says as she gets out of the car.

Carmilla rolls down the passenger window. “Hey, cupcake.”

Laura turns around.  “Yeah?”

Carmilla swallows hard.  “If I didn’t have this baggage and crap…  I would’ve said yes.”  Laura smiles back.  “And I really like you, too.”  Laura’s smile grows until she’s completely beaming.  “It’s just the timing is off, y’know?”

Laura nods and gives a small wave. “Goodnight, Carm.”

“Goodnight!”

 

Carmilla watches as Laura lets herself into her house. She leans her forehead against the steering wheel, groans, and stays there for a while.

_Holy crap._

_Laura likes me, too._

_Laura_ likes _me._

Her phone buzzes and for a second she’s dreading that it’s a text from her mother.  Instead, she sees it’s a text from Laura.

“ _Why are you still outside my house?  Creeper :P_ ”

Carmilla laughs and drives away.


	14. On The Road

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> During a team trip to a game, the teammates try bonding while Carmilla makes a small confession.

Carmilla is legitimately concerned that she’s messed up her friendship with Laura, but absolutely nothing has changed. They continue their good-natured ribbing of each other, and texting outside of games and practices. They continue the carpooling, and Carmilla has agreed to hang out with the team every time they go out, although she still keeps to herself and sticks with Laura.

They’re twenty-five games into the season before they have their farthest away game.  Laura comes up with the idea for them to rent a massive van for the team, which they all agree to, and the team piles in, with Laura, Carmilla, Perry, and LaF in the back row together.  Danny is driving with Will and Kirsch in the front.  The others are sandwiched in the middle, while hockey bags and sticks are stuffed under seats, on the roof, or in the trunk.

Each row is chattering amongst itself until Danny decides that this was _not_ the point of everyone riding together, so she declares they’re going to do some icebreakers.

 

This turns out to be a terrible idea, because Danny asks who’s everyone’s favorite professional hockey player, and Laura answers, “Sid Crosby,” and Carmilla almost murders her in the back of the van with her bare hands.

“He’s talented!” Laura insists.

Carmilla scoffs.  “He’s talented _and he knows it_.”

“Oh, well, if that’s all you’ve got to say against him––”

“––He’s a goddamn crybaby!”  Carmilla looks like she’s about to throttle the small girl. “He has no problem with the Penguins being physical, but the moment someone on another team hits him, he’s screaming for the refs to make a call.”

“But he’s a great scorer and leader,” Laura growls.

“Yeah–– Leader of The Crybabies!”

Laura rolls her eyes.  “Whatever.”

“Plus, he’s _Canadian_ ,” Carmilla says, knowing the reaction she’s going to get.

The entire van starts yelling at Carmilla, who just grins, and Laura swats her.  “You’re the worst.”

 

The next question Danny asks everyone is why they enjoy playing hockey.

“I love how awesome teamwork feels and we work well together,” Danny begins.

Kirsch does a bit of a fist pump. “I love spending time with some of the most awesome bros a dude like me can ask for!”

“I love that you guys are my family and can help me through anything,” Laura says with a warm smile.

“I love that it’s structured and I always know what my job is, and what everyone else’s jobs are, and when we all do them correctly, we’re amazing,” Perry answers, earning a laugh from LaF.

The rest of the team answers, until only Carmilla is left.

Laura gently nudges her.  “Well, Carm?”

Carmilla fidgets a bit and chews her lip. Laura places a hand on her knee reassuringly.

“Why do you like playing hockey?”

Carmilla looks over at Laura, whose warm look is enough to get her speaking.  “It used to be to blow off steam when I played before,” she answers, aware that the entire van’s attention is turned towards her.  “But now, I like playing because it makes me feel like… Like I belong somewhere.”

The van remains silent for a few moments.

Carmilla is staring down into her lap, trying as hard as possible to let the car seat eat her.

“You belong, Carm,” Danny says from the front, quietly but firmly.

There’s a chorus of agreements from the other players, and Laura takes Carmilla’s hand in hers and squeezes it.

“Thanks, guys,” Carmilla murmurs, trying not to feel like the biggest traitor on the planet.

* * *

 

 

In spite of the team building on the drive over, the game does not go well, and they wind up losing 4-2, with Natalie scoring one goal off Elsie, and Carmilla scoring a goal on an assist from Laura. The majority of the third period had remained within reach at 3-2, but Laura breaks her stick with a minute left and a defenseman dekes around her and scores.

The drive back is considerably more quiet and gloomy.

“I’m gonna go shopping for a new stick tomorrow,” Laura says softly to Carmilla.  “Wanna come with?”

Carmilla nods.

The adrenaline rush after a game is still clearly happening, because no one is asleep.  But also, _no one is talking_.

“Hey, come on, guys,” Laura prods. “I know we lost, but that doesn’t make us losers!”

LaFontaine looks over and raises an eyebrow. “What the hell is that supposed to mean, L?”

Perry elbows them a bit and whispers, “Be nice.”

Laura gives LaF a small smile. “I’m saying, we shouldn’t let this quash our spirits!  We’ll just go over whatever went wrong and fix it, right, Coach Will?”

Will grumbles something in the front.

“How about someone learn to cover their points,” Danny growls from the driver’s seat.  “Those shots from the defensemen killed us.”

“Well, covering defensemen is the least of our worries when our own defensemen can’t protect our goalie,” Elsie snaps. “You guys _do_ realize you can leave the damn boards, right?”

Everyone starts arguing and blaming each other and Laura slinks back in her seat.

“It was a nice try,” Carmilla says quietly, but Laura is pouting and looking like she’s about to burst into tears at any moment.

 

Carmilla turns away.  “Guys, stop,” she says, slightly louder, but the van is in chaos now.

Danny and Kirsch are yelling at each other in the front seats about who’s the better defenseman.  SJ and Natalie are arguing about who screwed up–– the offense, or the defense.  Elsie is arguing with LaF and Perry about Perry’s goaltending.

“Guys, cut it out!”  Carmilla is raising her voice more now, so it’s slightly audible over the din, but still goes unnoticed.

“ _EVERYONE SHUT THE HELL UP ALREADY!_ ”  Carmilla’s voice booms through the car, and everyone quiets down.

Laura gives her a grateful look and a smile. Carmilla takes Laura’s hand in hers and squeezes it. 

“Look, guys, it was a messy game all-around. The offense didn’t score enough in their zone, and didn’t help out enough in ours.  The defense was too spread out and didn’t keep the puck in the offensive zone.  So let’s stop ripping each other apart right now, since that’s the complete opposite of the point of us riding together, okay?”  Laura gives a small laugh.  “We’ll have time to take it out on each other on the ice during practice.”

There’s a moment of silence in the van.

“For someone so tiny, you have a lot of sense in you, dude,” Kirsch says from the front, and everyone laughs.

“It’s because Carmilla knocked so much of it into me during practices,” Laura says, joking, but Carmilla feels a small pang in her chest.

The van returns to a decent buzz for the rest of the trip until Kirsch takes over for Danny, and the others fall asleep.

Laura’s head slides to fall on Carmilla’s shoulder, and she can’t find it in herself to mind.

 


	15. Stick It To Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carmilla and Laura go shopping for a new hockey stick.

Laura drives by Carmilla’s house and picks her up the next day to go to a local sporting goods store to look at sticks.

“Do you also wanna bring your skates so we can get them sharpened while they’re there?”

Carmilla shakes her head.  “I prefer to do it myself at the rink.”  Laura gives her a quizzical look.  “I work there as a skate guard, remember? We have access to it.”

“Oh, that’s awesome!”

“I can sharpen yours, too.  Free of charge,” Carmilla adds with a wink. Laura giggles and Carmilla gets into the car.

 

“So I was thinking about having a barbeque this weekend for the team,” Laura says during the drive.  “Do you have shifts at the rink I should plan around?”

“Nope.”

Laura smacks her forehead.  “Sorry, that sounded so presumptuous.  Did you even want to come?”

“Would it matter if I say ‘no?’” Carmilla chuckles. “Yes, cutie, I want to come.”

“Okay, that’s good,” Laura says with a sigh of relief.

 

They pull up to the store and enter it.

“So, uh, does your mother know you’re here?” Laura asks while they meander over to the hockey sticks aisle.

“No, she’s away at a conference,” Carmilla replies. “She won’t be back for a week.”

“I see.”

Laura turns into the aisle and starts browsing over sticks.

“Are you looking for a particular brand?”

Laura’s scanning over them.  “I mean, my last stick was that Bauer Vapor X800, but the stick I used throughout high school was from the Easton Synergy line, and that was really nice.”  She pauses. “My first few sticks were CCM, though.”

Carmilla laughs.  “Yeah, my first composite stick was a CCM Vector 120.”

Laura’s eyes widen.  “Oh my god, me, too!”  She laughs.  “It was so tacky-looking, with that metallic blue and orange look?”

“That is so weird.” Carmilla chuckles. She stands next to Laura. “What flex do you use?”

“50,” Laura answers, looking over some sticks from the new Easton V9E line.

“Me, too.”  Carmilla nods in approval.  “I was looking at these the other day.”

Laura giggles and takes a stick for shooting left off the rack.  “Wanna get matching sticks? It’d make our plays together even more intimidating.”

 

Carmilla laughs.  “Sounds like a plan, babe.”

She leans a little too close while reaching for a right-handed one and brushes Laura, who seems a bit startled by the sudden contact.

“I-I’m sorry,” she mutters.

“You’d think as hockey players, I’d be used to contact,” Laura laughs.  She plucks a roll of tape off a shelf and drops it on the floor.  She uses the stick to play with it a bit, and Carmilla places her blade on the ground.

Carmilla taps the blade, and Laura gently slides the roll of tape over so Carmilla can catch it.  They pass it back and forth for a bit, before Carmilla lets it go with slightly more force than she intended, and it bounces off the shelf next to Laura and redirects to her ankle.

Laura stumbles a bit and Carmilla reaches out to steady her, except now they’re a lot closer than either of them are ready for.

Before Carmilla can stop herself, she finds herself leaning over.  _Don’tkissherdon’tkissherdon’tkissher_.

 

Laura pulls away and gives a nervous laugh. “Why are you always injuring me?”

Carmilla snaps back into reality and chuckles. “Maybe you’re just really clumsy?”

“You’re the worst.”  Laura shakes her head.  “What do you think?”

Carmilla’s mind is still stuck on the almost-kiss and can’t decide whether she’s upset about the fact that that’s all it was. “About what?”

“About the stick, silly,” Laura says with a laugh.

“Oh.  I like it. What about you?”

“I’ll have to cut it down before our next practice,” Laura replies.

“ _NooOooo,_ really?” Carmilla responds sarcastically, earning a playful smack from Laura.

They go to the counter to buy their sticks.

 

During the drive home, Carmilla receives a text from the Dean asking what she’s up to.  She lies and says she’s at home studying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys! Hope you're enjoying so far. Sorry the chapter's so short, the next one should be up in less than a day!


	16. Penny For Your Thoughts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura hosts a barbecue for the team, while Carmilla tries opening up.

Carmilla thought Laura would run out of ways to stop surprising her, but she is constantly in awe of the tiny ball of awesomeness before her.

Passionate teammate?  Check.

Loyal friend?  Check.

Understanding and warm?  Check.

 

Amazing at planning a team barbeque? _Check_.

 

Carmilla looks as Laura is preparing hamburgers, hot dogs, ribs, and chicken wings.  Perry is currently with LaFontaine in Laura’s kitchen chopping up vegetables to grill.  Kirsch and Danny are bringing in iced tea, lemonade, soda, and beer (“which the underage teammates are not in any way supposed to drink, -wink-wink-” says Kirsch).

Laura has a quick conversation with her dad over the phone–– as he is, as Laura puts it, “the best barbeque-r ever!”

Once the vegetables have joined the uncooked meat by the grill, and all the beverages have been laid out, the party starts, with Laura expertly and efficiently starting to cook.  Carmilla stands by her.

“Don’t you want to mingle with the others?” Laura jokes.  Carmilla rolls her eyes and smiles.  “Ah, well, if you’re gonna hover by me, at least get the buns out and ready, please.”

Carmilla starts sorting out the burger and hot dog buns.  She bites her lip, because ever since the almost-kiss the other day in the store, she’s been having an intense internal debate–– one that hasn’t been resolved.

“Stop thinking so hard,” Laura teases. “There’s more smoke coming out of your ears than from my grill.”

Carmilla laughs dryly but doesn’t say anything else.

“Penny for your thoughts?”  Carmilla looks over, and Laura has her tongue sticking out the side as she flips burgers and the vegetables.  She looks around, and the rest of the team is inside, half of them watching television while the others jam out to some music blasting from Laura’s stereo system.

She takes a deep breath.

 

“I wanted to talk to you a bit about Elle,” she finally says slowly.

Laura raises an eyebrow, but doesn’t say anything.

Carmilla swallows hard.  “We met in the female campus acapella group. My parents had passed away a few years before and my mother wasn’t the best with feelings, but singing helped me… I guess like hockey helped you.”  Laura offers her a smile.  “Elle was so sweet and nice to me, and it was the first time I started to feel like I’d belonged anywhere in a long time.  We dated for a few months, and then it got serious.”  She hesitats, because she doesn’t want to go into the details of what followed–– not yet.  “My mother found out about her and wasn’t ready to let me out of her grasp yet, wasn’t ready to share me. So she told Elle some things about me and it sent Elle running.”

She can tell Laura wanted to ask for more details. At first, Carmilla isn’t planning to say more, but she just feels compelled to tell Laura everything. She deserves to know, but what if Laura reacts the same way?

“It was mommy issues,” she adds vaguely. “And it’s baggage I’ve been working on.”

Laura starts getting some of the cooked food off the grill and adding more, and Carmilla thinks for a second that maybe she’s picked a bad time and is bothering Laura.

“Thank you for telling me,” Laura finally says softly. “Although I’m not sure why?–– Not that I’m, like ungrateful or anything.  It’s just, why now?  I hope you’re not feeling pressured to, or anything––”

“I want us to move past being friends,” Carmilla interrupts.  “But I don’t want to drag you into my mess until I’ve figured some things out for myself, that’s all.”

“Okay.”  Laura nods. “Okay.  Whatever you want.”  She beams at Carmilla.  “And if you ever need help with talking or anything, I’m here for you, okay?”

 

Carmilla starts to smile when something splatters off the grill and onto Laura’s hand.  She winces and pulls her hand back and knocks over a bowl of cooked vegetables, but Carmilla manages to catch it and keeps anything from falling out.

“Are you okay?” Carmilla asks, putting the bowl back onto the table.

“Yeah.”

“Can’t blame this one on me, cupcake,” Carmilla teases.

“I think you’re right.  Maybe I _am_ just really clumsy.”  Carmilla laughs.

“Do me a favor and start bringing some of the food in while I run my hand under some cold water?”

Carmilla starts to carry some bowls when Laura gives her a small peck on the cheek.  “Thanks again for opening up to me, Carm.”

Carmilla flashes a smile that’s slightly too large. “Thanks for listening, Laura.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Loving the feedback, guys! Thanks for everything :)


	17. Hook, Line, and Sinker

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> During the last game of the regular season, Carmilla decides to stand up for Laura when she draws a penalty.

“It’s our last game of the regular season,” Danny says in the huddle.  “As cliché as it sounds, if we don’t win today, it’s also our last game of the season altogether. So what are we gonna do today?”

“Win!” Laura shouts excitedly, and the team chuckles.

“Yes, we are gonna win.  Let’s do this, guys!”  Danny affectionately pulls Laura to her side and squeezes her. “3… 2… 1…”

“SILAS SIRENS!”

 

By now, Natalie and Elsie make a good pair in their own right.  They manage to score one goal each in the first period.  Natalie scores off an assist from Sarah Jane, while Elsie scores off a deflected shot from LaF.

During the second period, the other team ties the game. Moving into the third period, the game remains tied.

“Word must’ve gotten out about us,” Laura says to Carmilla on the bench, “because we keep getting shut down before we make it anywhere near the net.”

Danny glances over.  “Let’s just have Natalie, LaF, and Elsie focus on being offensive when they’re out there, and you guys focus on keeping any further damage being done.”

Laura nods before jumping the boards when Natalie approaches.  Elsie gets caught in the middle of a play while trying to finish the line change, so Laura goes to help her out with the scuffle along the boards.

 

Laura manages to get the puck out and skates with it out of their zone, and Elsie starts to head back to the bench so Carmilla can switch in.  Carmilla jumps the boards and tries to catch up to Laura, who is barreling past the other team’s forwards and deking around a defenseman.

The other defenseman decides he would rather take a penalty instead of allowing Laura to score, and hooks his stick between her legs and tugs, tripping her.  Laura lunges forward and goes flying into the goal posts sideways hard enough to send the net flying into the boards.

The ref blows the whistle to indicate the hooking call, but Carmilla decides that’s not punishment enough.  She charges forth and shoves the player, who turns around and shoves her back.

Carmilla throws her gloves off and so does her opponent. They trade a few blows before Carmilla lands a particularly nice punch, knocking off his helmet. She continues swinging and he finally loses his footing falling to the ice.  Carmilla sits on top of him and continues hitting him, although he’s blocking most of them with his arms.

 

Suddenly there are hands on her, pulling her off. Carmilla shakes them off, vaguely registering that someone is calling her name.  The hands are on her again and she whirls around to smack whoever is tugging at her, but she manages to stop right before her fist connects with Laura’s face.

“Carm,” the smaller girl says softly. “Get off him. Please?”

Carmilla is breathing heavily but slowly gets off the other player, who has to be helped up but seems okay, other than a broken nose and some nasty bruises forming.

“Think about the next time you decide to hook someone,” Carmilla spits out.

Laura gently holds her in place.

“Are you okay?” Carmilla asks her.

Laura nods.  “Better than _that_ _guy_ ,” she says with a laugh.  Carmilla’s eyes wander to the side Laura slammed into the net. “Besides, it’s nothing I haven’t had before.” She winks and Carmilla offers a weak smile.

 

The ref calls Carmilla to the box for fighting.

“Thanks for sticking up for me, Carm,” Laura says before Carmilla skates off.  Carmilla tries to hide a widening smile.

 

Laura lines up at the face-off while LaF, Danny, and Kirsch give Carmilla fist bumps before joining her.  The teams are at even strength with a 4-on-4.

LaF loses the face-off, and the puck goes to the other team’s defenseman, who passes it to a forward along the boards. The two forwards break it out and easily take it across the ice.  Laura and LaF drop in with Danny and Kirsch in the box formation.  Danny manages to check the winger with the puck and it squirts out to LaF, who passes it over to Kirsch.  Kirsch shoots it out and Laura fights for it along the boards with the other team’s defenseman and center and manages to win.

She fires out of their zone and expertly spins past the other defenseman and heads straight for the net. She dekes a couple times before switching to her backhand, firing it upstairs past the goalie into the net.

 

The team erupts into cheers and Laura is wrapped in a huge embrace by her teammates.

The game ends a minute later with the final score 3-2, and Carmilla darts out of the penalty box towards Laura and pulls her into a tight hug.

“Sick snipe, shortbread,” Carmilla says.

Laura laughs.  “I didn’t want your sacrifice to be made in vain.”

The team finishes lining up to exchange _good game_ ’s and fist bumps with the other team and pours into the locker room, buzzing around Carmilla and Laura.  Will follows with a small smile and gives them both warm pounds on their shoulder pads.

“ _Guys_ ,” Danny exclaims excitedly, “we’re _going to the play-offs_!”

There are more cheers and whoops, and for once Carmilla joins in.

She doesn’t miss the uneasy look Will gives her, but she’ll deal with that later.  Right now, she wants to feel like a winner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Your support's been amazing so far, guys! Glad you seem to be enjoying the ride :)


	18. Bad Influence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura visits Carmilla at work, with an unexpected development or two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys are the best!! Thanks for the support and feedback! <3  
> (In fact, you guys are SO awesome, I added extra fluff to the original version :P)

Carmilla leaves the skate guard office to do a quick round.  She’s still buzzing from the team’s entry into the semi-finals a couple days ago and her blood is already pumping just thinking about tomorrow’s first play-off game.

It’s been radio silence from her mother, who is supposed to be coming back tomorrow.  Will and her are hoping that she’ll be so tired from her trip that they won’t have to deal with her before their first game.  Will hasn’t explicitly said anything about whether he’s planning to continue aiding his mother in her plans, but he seems content enough to allow the team to go wherever it goes.

Carmilla steps out onto the ice and does one lap before she hears a familiar voice calling her name.  She can’t stop the smile that spreads across her face. She slows down, waiting for them to catch up to her.

 

“Hey, Carm,” Laura beams when she catches up. She pivots to face her.

“You dork,” Carmilla says, still smiling. “Why didn’t you text me to say you were coming?”

Laura shrugs.  “It was kinda spur-of-the-moment.  I figured since we didn’t have practice before the game tomorrow, it wouldn’t hurt to get some ice time in.  My legs were itching to skate.”

Carmilla nods.  “I know the feeling.”

Laura pivots back so they’re skating side-by-side.

“I also may be procrastinating on my journalism project,” she adds guiltily.

Carmilla laughs.  “Am I being a bad influence on you?”

“You have no idea.”

 

They skate a few more laps in silence, before Laura suddenly nudges Carmilla and declares, “Chase me!” before taking off.

Carmilla laughs and skates after the smaller girl, weaving around the other skaters, before Laura turns and goes backwards, giving Carmilla the smuggest look she can.

“I am going to wipe that grin off your face,” Carmilla yells, skating after Laura.

Laura lets out a laugh and goes back to skating forwards, but purposely slows down and Carmilla catches up to her and playfully pins her against the boards.

Carmilla is chuckling while they both catch their breath.  She clears her throat and nods gravely.  “Ma’am, I’m sorry, but rink regulations say your speed is hazardous to the other skaters, and I’m going to have to ask you leave.”

Laura giggles and swats Carmilla, who lets her go. “Worth it.”

 

A small child falls near them and Laura helps him up and wipes his tears when he cries.  She gives him a hug before skating away.

“Well, aren’t you a heartbreaker,” Carmilla comments, smirking.

“Are you complaining about me doing your job for you?” Laura snaps good-naturedly.

“My job isn’t to wipe kids’ snot,” Carmilla fires back, getting off the rink.  “It’s to make sure they don’t bleed on the ice.”

Laura follows her.  “You’re terrible.”

Carmilla starts to head towards the office. “No, blood on ice is terrible,” Carmilla replies.  “It messes up the Zamboni.”  She unlocks the door and gestures for Laura to step inside.  “And then afterwards, I have to spray down the tires…”

Laura throws her head back in a laugh. “You’re ridiculous, Carm.”

Carmilla’s grinning and sits on her desk.

 

“Not that I’m against the company, but I thought you were here for ice time,” Carmilla points out.

Laura leans against a shelf by the desk. “I might’ve lied about why I actually came here,” she says, grinning.

“Oh?”  Carmilla snaps her fingers, feigning disappointment.  “Darn, I guess you’re here just to procrastinate from your assignment, then.”

Laura laughs.  “Yes. Yes, that’s _definitely_ it.  Plus, this bitchy skate guard kicked me off the ice.”  Carmilla laughs softly as Laura takes a step away from the shelf and picks up Carmilla’s hands in hers.  There are still some bruises from the fight in the last game. “How are your hands, Tiger Williams?”

“Look who’s talking.  Didn’t you do the same for me when we weren’t even a dozen games into the season?”  Carmilla chuckles.

Laura blushes a bit.  “You were worth it.”

Carmilla isn’t ready for this response. She swallows hard and feels herself reddening.  Laura Hollis can be quite the spaz, and then there are times like these when Laura is just so smooth and so _honest_ , and Carmilla doesn’t know what to _do_.

 

Her hands are still in Laura’s.

Without thinking, she pulls Laura in, and their lips connect.  At first, Carmilla panics, thinking Laura might pull away, but instead Laura deepens the kiss. It’s so overwhelming–– Carmilla hasn’t kissed anyone since Elle, but it feels so right, and she can feel the world melting away.  She lets go of Laura’s hands, resting one on the back of Laura’s head and wrapping the other arm around her waist.  Laura drapes both of her arms around Carmilla’s neck and melts into the kiss.

It feels like time has stopped and Carmilla’s heart is thumping so hard she’s afraid the force of it will push Laura away, so she pulls her in closer.

Carmilla finds herself with just enough coherence to wish that this moment would never end.

And yet, it does.

 

There’s a knock on the office door, and they pull apart reluctantly.  Carmilla looks past Laura to see who had interrupted them and her heart almost goes from racing from the kiss to stopping altogether.

“Hello, mother.”


	19. One Day You’ll Understand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Following a conversation with her mother, Carmilla sets out to follow her orders again, with less-than-ideal results.

Danny is playfully shoving Laura when Carmilla walks into the locker room.  Carmilla goes straight to getting dressed when Danny walks away to do the same.

Laura turns and looks at Carmilla. “So, uhm, you didn’t return any of my texts after I left you and your mother,” she starts.

Carmilla raises an eyebrow but continues taking her equipment out of her bag.  “I was busy,” she mutters.

Laura bites her lip and nods. “Are we okay?  Are _you_ okay?”

Carmilla sighs, puts all the equipment back in her bag, and stands up from her locker.  “I don’t want to talk about it,” she says sharply.  “Drop it.”  She picks up her bag and walks over to her old corner spot.

She chances a glance while she’s lacing up her skates and sees that Laura has a permanent pout and that Danny is looking over at Laura with worry in the locker next to her.

Carmilla closes her eyes and sighs.

 

* * *

 

 

_“Hello, mother.”_

_Laura squeaks a bit and she fully pulls away from Carmilla to turn and face the Dean. She makes some babbling excuse for leaving and bids them goodbye.  Carmilla can see Laura past her mother and Laura holds up her phone and mouths, “I’ll text you,” before exiting the rink._

_Carmilla turns her attention back to her mother, who is simply staring at her with a mix of something–– disappointment?  Frustration?  Anger?_

_“Imagine my surprise, darling, when I come back after a month of traveling, to find that not only has the team been winning in my absence, but that you’re in the play-offs, and that a decent amount of the goals have been scored by you.”_

_“Mother, I––”_

_“I thought we had an understanding, Carmilla,” she interrupts, gently but firmly. “The team was_ not _supposed to make it in the play-offs.  They were_ not _supposed to have a winning season.  I can’t imagine I was in any way unclear?”_

_Carmilla shakes her head, averting her gaze.  The Dean approaches her._

_“Then what is this foolishness I’ve returned to?”_

_Carmilla continues staring at the ground.  “I don’t––”_

_“Let me rephrase that,” the Dean cuts in, tucking a strand of hair back behind Carmilla’s ear.  “Is the sudden change in plans because of Laura Hollis?”  She scoffs.  “Is she a_ good kisser _?”_

_Carmilla flinches a bit from her harsh tone._

_“That silly little child can’t love you, my glittering girl,” she says lightly. “Not like I do.”_

_“I just don’t understand why we’re hurting her in order to get what we want,” Carmilla says quietly._

_“I thought by now you’d see that everything I do, I do for the best. That Laura Hollis doesn’t even know that there’s no way for her to fight.  She has nothing to fight with. And sometimes that’s just the way of the world. I’d hoped I’d taught you that we must learn to bear it as best we can.  But if I haven’t, then I’m confident that one day you’ll understand.”_

_Carmilla frowns._

_The Dean sighs. “Don’t you want me to be proud of you?”_

_Carmilla swallows hard.  “Yes, I do.”_

_She smiles and plants a kiss on Carmilla’s forehead.  “Then tomorrow at the game, you will do everything in your power to lose the game.  And the game after that. And you’ll keep doing this until they drop out of the play-offs.  Until then, I’ll find a way to argue that the hockey team should lose its funding and that it should go to the glee club.”_

_Carmilla remains silent but nods._

_“I love you, sweetheart.”_

 

* * *

 

_­­_

Carmilla spends warm-ups mostly alone, lifting the puck off the ice to slam as hard as she can into Perry’s pads.

“Geez, mind dialing it back a bit?” LaF hisses.

Carmilla mutters an apology.

Laura is mostly skating with Kirsch and Danny, who are focused on erasing the pout off her face.  Danny sticks her stick between Laura’s legs and exclaims, “Cup check!”  Laura throws her head back in a laugh.

A pang shoots through Carmilla’s chest, knowing that she is the cause of Laura’s pout and not the cause of that laughter. She spotts her mother in the crowd.

She is the first to the bench when the refs whistle to start lining up for face-offs.

“Did mother have a talk with you?” Will asks.

Carmilla nods.

Will frowns at her.  “Yeah, I’m not thrilled about it, either,” he admits. “But it’s best not to go against her wishes, y’know?”

“You are such a mama’s boy,” she snaps. The others start skating over, so they cut their conversation short.

 

During the first two periods, Carmilla makes sure not to make any passes to Laura.  The game is close, with a score of 4-3 going into the third period. Sarah Jane has scored off assists from Natalie and Kirsch.  LaF scores off a pass from Laura.  Laura scores off an assist from Danny.

“We can tie this game,” Danny says during the intermission between periods.

“Heck yeah, we can!”  Laura exclaims with a bounce.  “Oh, and also, look who’s watching the game!” For a second Carmilla thinks Laura means the Dean, but Laura points at another seat and a girl waves at them.

“No way,” Perry says with a laugh. She, Danny, Kirsch, Laura, and LaF wave back.  “I can’t believe Betty came!”

Laura giggles.  “She finally decided to pull the hockey stick out of her butt. She’s been doing so well in rehab she’s been skating for the past couple weeks!  She might be able to join the team again.”

“If we’ll have her,” Danny points out jokingly.

“That is great news, dude,” Kirsch says.

“ _Anyway,_ ” Danny says.  “Let’s just keep the pressure on to capitalize on scoring chances.  And as Laura showed us with that last goal, the goalie is terrible with any slap shot and a puck that leaves the ice, so try to go upstairs on him, okay?”

There’s a chorus of, “Yes, captain!”

“Okay!  3… 2… 1…”

“SILAS SIRENS!”

 

The third period is a tense one, with both teams coming very close to scoring.  There are more shots on goal than in the other two periods combined.

With a few minutes left, Laura manages to get the puck in a scuffle along the boards and passes it over to LaF. Carmilla and Laura follow them into the offensive zone.

LaF gets stuck in traffic and Carmilla heads to the front of the net.  Laura taps her stick and LaF throws the puck towards her.  Laura does a touch pass to Carmilla.

Carmilla quickly makes a decision and, instead of a slap shot and lifting the puck, she holds back and does a soft wrist shot into the goalie’s pad.  There’s a rebound straight into the defenseman’s stick, and he shoots it out.

The other team’s forward takes it and is joined by her line, and they take it down the ice on a three-on-two and, before Laura, LaF, or Carmilla can get back into their own zone, the other team scores.

The final score is 5-3.

 

They head into the locker room, defeated.

LaF slams their stick against a locker. “Not to play the blame game, but what the _hell_ was that, Karnstein?”

Laura steps right in to defend her. “LaF, that’s not fair.”

This just makes Carmilla feel worse.

“It kinda is, Laura,” Danny gently points out. “Carmilla, why didn’t you lift the puck? Or put more, I don’t know–– oomph–– behind it?  We know you’re quite the sniper.” Laura’s face seems to darken a bit.

Carmilla shrugs.  “I didn’t get a good enough handle on the puck.”  It was a lame excuse and she knows it.

Laura narrows her eyes, slowly turning from LaF to face her.  “You had a perfect handle on the puck, Carm,” she says slowly.  “Why _didn’t_ you put more force behind the shot?”

Carmilla looks for Will for help, but he’s outside–– probably talking to his mother.

“I saw you during warm-ups,” Laura continues, her eyebrows furrowing.  “You were shooting really hard at Perry.”

Perry and LaF nod.

“It’s like you took a bad shot on purpose.”

 

Carmilla freezes on the spot. She tries to tell some kind of lie, or at the very least refute it, but her mind wanders to Laura’s kiss the day before.

She thinks about all the times Laura helped her, stood up for her, _believed_ in her.

She thinks about how easily Laura made her feel like she fit in, like she had a place she belonged, like she had a family.

She remembers Laura smiling, giggling, and laughing, because of her.

And then she remembers all the lies she’d told, or all the time she’d told enough to be just short of the truth, and she’s so very tired of lying.

 

“I don’t have to stand around listening to this crap,” Carmilla finally snaps, and ducks out of the locker room.


	20. Sorry For Everything

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura finally finds out the truth about Carmilla.

Carmilla is walking away from the locker room, still fully dressed, slamming the door behind her.  It doesn’t take long for the door to open again, and she tries her best to ignore the presence following her.

“Carm,” Laura calls after her. “Carm!”

Carmilla continues walking, but she isn’t sure why, because she obviously can’t walk around in her skates forever.

“ _CARMILLA KARNSTEIN!_ ” Laura yells out, and Carmilla stops dead in her tracks.

 

Laura finally catches up to her.

“What is going _on_ with you?” she demands.  She doesn’t seem angry, just hurt and confused.

Carmilla presses her lips together and averts her gaze.

“I-Is it because we kissed?” Laura asks quietly. “Was your mother angry with you about that?  Or was it not okay with you? B-Because, you seemed okay with it… And if it was your mother, you can tell me––”

“––It’s not because of the kiss,” Carmilla replies. “The kiss has nothing to do with it.”

“Oh.”  Laura looks visibly relieved.  “Then what is it?”

Carmilla chews her lip.

“You can talk to me, Carm.”

There’s a few seconds of internal debate before Carmilla decides _to hell with it_ and looks into Laura’s warm gaze.

                                                         

“I’ve been lying to you,” Carmilla begins quietly. “My mother ordered me to join the ice hockey team.”

Laura pouts, confused.  “But you put up a fuss when I asked you to join.”

“It was a ruse.  We didn’t want me to look too eager to join.”  She sighs.  “She made me join because she wanted me to purposely make you guys have a losing season so that she could make a case to administration that the ice hockey team should stop receiving funding.”

Laura’s eyes widened.  “What?  Why?”

“The administration took away so much funding from her damn glee club a couple years ago, so she’s been trying to siphon the money from other teams to restart it.  She’s been aiming for the teams that use the most funding, like the hockey team and––”

“––The acapella group,” Laura realizes. “Oh my god, you joined the acapella group last year because your mother asked you to?”

Carmilla closes her eyes and nods.

“And Elle found out?”

“Yes,” she says, her voice cracking. “She found out I was intentionally ruining performances and she dumped me and was so sick of how corrupted the system could be that she transferred out.”

Laura stands there in shock, slowly absorbing everything.

 

Several moments pass.

“Laura?  What are you thinking?” Carmilla asks, uneasy.

Laura continues to stand there.

“Laura?”

“Your mother asked you to join the team and–– what? Take crappy shots at the goalie?”

Carmilla takes a deep breath. “Originally she didn’t want to get me involved.  She thought it would be an easy fix.  She wanted to take out the star player–– you.  She meant to break your leg in the parking lot after your first practice, but she timed it wrong and the person she wound up hitting with her car was––”  
“––Betty.”  Laura’s jaw drops open. “Oh, my god.”

Carmilla nods gravely.  “After that, she told me to try to hurt you in practice, but that didn’t work, so it just became me botching games.”

Laura looks horrified.  “B–But you scored a whole bunch of times,” she points out.

 

Carmilla wants to hold back.  _But what’s the point, now_? “I tried so hard,” she says, her voice cracking again.  “I tried to not like you, and you were just so warm and caring, and welcoming.”  

Her eyes start to tear up.  “But I wound up really enjoying playing with you and being your teammate, and your friend.”

The tears start falling now.  “And I thought you’d think I was a monster for hurting you just because my mother told me to.”

Laura sighs and slumps against the rink’s glass.

“I wanted to tell you so many times, but I just couldn’t.  I was afraid you’d hate me.”

“I don’t hate you,” Laura responds immediately.

It comes out harsh and angry, so she tries changing her tone a bit.

“Why did you do all these things for your mother?”

Carmilla lets out a sob and then takes another deep breath.  “I don’t know,” she says with a shrug.  “I just wanted her to be proud of me.”  She wipes some tears away. “My actual mom was never really proud of me.  I was more of a daddy’s girl, especially with the whole ‘playing hockey’ thing, and it just felt so nice to have a mother say she was proud of me.”

“But she’s proud of you for hurting people and doing things you don’t want to do,” Laura points out softly.

 

Carmilla sniffles.  “I’m sorry I hurt you,” she whispers.  “I’m sorry I hit you and…  I’m just sorry.”

Laura furrows her brows.  “For the last time, Carm, I’m not upset with you for hitting me,” she says slowly.  “I don’t even care about you forcing losses for the team.”  She lets out a long exhale.  “I get you wanting to make the Dean proud.  If anyone gets mommy issues, it’s me.  It was hard enough losing my mother, I can’t imagine what it must’ve been like for you to lose both of your parents.”

 _There she goes again with that sympathy_ , Carmilla thinks.

“But it hurts me that you didn’t trust me enough to tell me all of this sooner,” Laura says.  She looks like she’s about to cry, too, but doesn’t. “I thought you knew me better than that.”

“I know,” Carmilla says with another sniffle. “I know, but it’s just that when I told Elle––”

“But I’m not Elle,” Laura remarks gently. “With everything, I thought the least I deserved was the benefit of the doubt.”  She bites her lip.  “Didn’t I?”

Carmilla nods emphatically.  “I should’ve told you.  I know that now.  But it’s too late, and I’ll do anything to make it up to you.”

Laura sighs deeply.

 

“I think you should leave the team,” Laura says quietly.  “I don’t think anyone else trusts you to have their back on the ice, and at this point, I’m not sure I do, either.”

Carmilla gulps but doesn’t object.

“At least for now?  Just until I process things?  And then we can take on the rest of the team’s trust of you together.”

“That’s fine,” Carmilla says with another sniffle. “And what are you going to tell the team?”

“Oh, right.”  Laura stands there for a few seconds thinking.  “I won’t tell them anything about the Dean being your mother and ordering you to do things.”

Carmilla looks relieved.

“If it comes out now about your mother’s corruption, we lose our faculty advisor and we’ll probably be kicked from the play-offs.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll just give them a vague answer that you’re dealing with personal issues and need some time from the team.”

Carmilla nods and Laura turns to head back to the locker room.

“Just wait for the rest of us to finish changing before you head back in, I guess.”

Carmilla stares at the ground. “Laura?”

“Hmm?”

“I really am sorry for everything.” Carmilla slowly looks back at Laura. “I shouldn’t have lied to you. I should’ve trusted you–– as much as you trusted me.”

 

“Yeah.”  Laura turns back around and walks away.  “Yeah, you should’ve.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading so far and for all the support and feedback, you awesome peeps!


	21. I'm Fine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura tries to cope with the revelations about Carmilla while the playoffs continue.

Laura looks over at the empty locker next to her and at the empty locker in the corner.

Danny regards her sadly.  “She’ll be back soon, though, right?”

Laura sighs and nods.

Betty walks into the locker room and everyone greets her.  Will is right behind her.

“Welcome back, Betty,” he says. “It’s great to have you back, but just in case, we’re gonna move Natalie up to the first line and you’ll be playing with Elsie, okay?”

Betty nods and starts to get changed.

 

Laura sees a few text messages pop up on her phone from Carmilla before she shoves it in her bag.

She skates around during warm-ups next to Danny and Kirsch, who are trying and failing to cheer her up.

“Did you hear?” Kirsch asks, pivoting to face the two girls.  “One of the other teams got caught with a player who played in the AHL for a couple of games before he moved back here.”

“No way,” Danny remarks.

Kirsch nods.  “Yup.  The team was automatically disqualified from the rest of the play-offs.  So all we have to do is win today’s game, and the next game, and we’re a shoe-in for the finals!”

Laura offers a small smile but it slowly fades.

 

She knows she should be more upset with Carmilla. She _had_ been lying to her for months. 

Carmilla had single-handedly given her quite a few headaches and bruised ribs that didn’t heal for a week, and the bruise was still there if you looked hard enough.  She had cost them who knew how many games.  And she did it all because her adoptive mother told her so.

But Laura couldn’t find any fault in that.

After all, didn’t she work so hard to keep her father proud of her to make up for the lack of appraisal from a mother, as well? Didn’t she call and text her dad regularly to keep him updated, and so she could hear, “I’m proud of you, honey,” whenever she could?

 

Instead, what hurt was knowing that this girl who had become a close friend over the past few months hadn’t trusted her enough to tell her this fundamental thing.  Carmilla had told her a few days into knowing her about her parents passing away, and the secret about the Dean being her adoptive mother. So why couldn’t she tell her about the entire scheme?

Even if telling her during that first visit at work would’ve been premature, Carmilla had plenty of opportunities to tell Laura. They’d driven to dozens of practices together, drove home from hanging out with the team together, were alone at the barbeque together…

Laura knew that Elle’s reaction had scared and scarred Carmilla.  Breaking up with someone and transferring schools would do that to someone.  But didn’t Laura prove that she wasn’t capable of doing something like that?

How could Carmilla just assume she would _also_ do something like that?

 

“Hey, L, don’t think so hard,” LaF comments as they skate past her.  They pivot and face her. “I don’t know what’s going on between you and Carmilla,” they say gently, “but get your head in the game, girl!”

Laura nods and takes a deep breath.

And get her head in the game, she does.

 

It’s a tough game, with both teams earning almost equal shots on net.  By the third period, both goalies have faced over forty shots each, but the game remains scoreless.

 _We would’ve scored if Carmilla was here_ , Laura finds herself thinking.

 

She shakes the thought off and lines up at the face-off.

LaF wins and gets the puck over to Sarah Jane, who drops back with it.  She passes it through traffic over to Natalie, already in the neutral zone with Laura. Natalie gets the puck off her stick before being checked, and Laura races against a defenseman for the puck in the offensive zone.

She reaches it first but is checked and loses it in the corner. Betty has switched with Natalie and gets the puck back from the defenseman along the boards in the neutral zone. She passes to Laura, who's been waiting on the blue line, and Laura takes it back into the defensive zone uncovered.

She heads straight for the net, dekes a few times, and fires a slap shot off her forehand and the puck soars over the goalie’s shoulder pad.

The team wins the game 1-0, and buzzes into the locker room, congratulating Laura and Betty.

 

Laura heads out of the locker room with LaF and Perry and sits in her car while it warms up. She checks her phone and there are more text messages from Carmilla.

There's a rap at the window.

“Hey, Danny,” Laura says, motioning her to get in. Danny does and looks grateful for the warmth. “Where's your stuff?”

“I dropped it off in my car,” she answers. “I saw you hadn't left yet and I just wanted to see if you're okay.”

Laura gives her a half-hearted smile. “I'm fine.”

“Hollis, I've known you since we were in the squirt league together,” Danny says, rolling her eyes. “And I'm your captain. Don't you dare lie to me.”

Laura laughs dryly. “I'm not. I'm fine.”

Danny sighs. “Do I have to kick Karnstein’s ass?”

This time, Laura gives an actual laugh. “No.”  She takes a deep breath.  “I’m not fine, but I’ll be fine, eventually.”

Danny gives one more skeptical look before smiling, giving Laura a hug, and getting out of her car.

Laura looks back down at her phone and scrolls through the texts from Carmilla.

 

 **Carmilla (1:15pm)** : _Hey_.

 **Carmilla (1:56pm)** : _Good luck today_

 **Carmilla (2:27pm)** : _There’s posters all over the rink congratulating the team_

 **Carmilla (3:01pm)** : _That team picture you used for your assignment looks great on it_

 **Carmilla (4:33pm)** : _Let me know if you guys win?_

 

Laura chews her lip while considering a response.

 

 **Laura (6:12pm)** : _We won_

 

The phone buzzes almost immediately with a reply.

 

 **Carmilla (6:13pm)** : _Did you score?_

 **Laura (6:13pm)** : _Yeah_

 **Carmilla (6:14pm)** : _Not surprised, cupcake_

 **Laura (6:14pm)** : _Haha_

Laura hesitates a bit before sending the next couple texts.

**Laura (6:15pm)** : _I missed you today_

 **Laura (6:15pm)** : _The next game is tomorrow at 3pm. It’s a home game, if you wanted to stop by?_

 **Carmilla (6:16pm)** : _Sounds great. I’ll see you then._

 **Laura (6:16pm)** : _:)_

 

Laura starts to drive home.  The prospect of seeing Carmilla tomorrow feels like it’s potentially outweighing the idea that Carmilla hurt her.  Potentially.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last four chapters are kind of a whirlwind for these two, so I hope you guys continue to enjoy the ride!


	22. No Choice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Dean makes a dangerous move against Laura, forcing Carmilla to make a choice that changes everything.

The team is finishing their warm-ups as Laura looks for Carmilla in the stands.  She doesn’t see her, but what she _does_ see is someone dressed up as some kind of bird-person and––

_Holy Hogwarts, is that Carmilla?_

She stares at the mascot and squints past the winged costume and _yes_ , Carmilla’s head is sticking out from the feathered suit.  Carmilla cautiously waves from near the bench as Laura gapes and skates over.

“What the heck are you wearing?” Laura says, stifling a laugh.

Carmilla grins and shrugs.  “I was going through my mother’s office and found this stuffed in the closet.”

Laura can’t hold back her laughter. “Yes, it’s the old mascot outfit,” she giggles.  “No one’s worn it in _years_.”

Carmilla ducks her face into the suit and then pops her face back out.  “Smells like it.”

Laura throws her head back and laughs. “You’re a dope.”

Carmilla bounces a bit so the wings flap, albeit weakly.  “Go, Silas Sirens?”

The teammates look over at Laura and awkwardly wave at Carmilla, who hesitantly waves back.

“Are you all going to stand there waving, or are you going to play the damn game?” Will asks harshly, but jokingly.

 

The game’s first period involves scrambling from both teams, ending in a tie 4-4.  Danny, LaF, Kirsch, and Elsie all have goals.  The other team seems to particularly have it out for Laura, blocking her off from any passes and checking her whenever they can.

After a particularly hard hit, she skates back to the bench, and Betty takes her spot on the ice.

“Are you okay?” Danny frets.

Laura is winded and wheezes out a, “Yeah.” Danny doesn’t seem convinced and bites her lip, but SJ is signaling for a change, so Danny doesn’t have a chance to follow up.

Laura is trying to breathe through the pain and glances over to see Carmilla staring at her, worried.

She mouths, “Are you okay?” and Laura nods and beams back, making the other girl crack a smile and shake her head.

LaFontaine waves at the bench, and Laura looks over at Elsie.  “I’ve got them,” she says. She changes with LaF as Betty and Natalie are breaking the puck out of the zone and joins the rush.

A defenseman poke checks the puck from Betty, but Natalie recovers it and skates it into their zone.  Laura manages to spin around the other defenseman and is in front of the net, and Natalie quickly hits her with a pass.  Laura one-times it into the net with a hard wrist shot, and the puck flies between the goalie’s kneepads for a goal.

 

The team swarms Laura on the ice when the game ends with no further goals, pounding on her and hugging her.

“We made it to the finals!” Danny squeals, squeezing Laura.

 

She skates off the ice and Carmilla is standing by the exit.

“Awesome goal, cupcake,” Carmilla says with a small smile.

“Thanks.”  Laura returns the smile.  “Can we talk after I change?”

Carmilla nods and Laura rushes to get changed.

She’s still the last one to leave, since the physical game took quite the toll on her.  Plus, everyone kept congratulating her.

 

By the time she finally steps out of the locker room, she doesn’t see Carmilla anywhere.  She decides to head to the parking lot to drop off her bag in her car and then figure out where Carmilla is from there.

She steps into the parking lot and heads towards her car when she hears footsteps behind her. 

“Carm?”  She turns around, but it’s a guy.  “Oh. Sorry about that,” she says, laughing nervously.  She’s not sure who the guy is, because he has a hoodie on, and the shadow is blocking out his face, but he’s at least a foot taller than her.  She’s looking up and can’t place who he is, so she decides to just flat-out ask him who he is.

He doesn’t answer, and instead picks her up by the throat, her hockey bag and stick dropping to the ground.

 

His large hand closes around her throat and she claws at it, gasping for air.

“You’re going to politely recuse yourself from the team,” he growls.  He shakes her a bit, and her vision is growing blurry.  “Am I clear?”

“Leave her the hell alone!” a voice yells from behind him, and there’s a loud _whack_ before he drops Laura to the ground and falls over.  Laura gasps for air and looks up at her savior–– it’s Carmilla, standing protectively in front of her.

Laura feels hands on her shoulders, and arms wrapping around her, and she looks around to see Danny, Kirsch, LaF, and Perry around her, with her other teammates rapidly approaching in the distance.

 

Carmilla is still standing over the attacker, planting herself between him and Laura.  “Beat it, Krzeminski,” she growls.  He scrambles to his feet and seems ready to attack her too, before realizing the large crowd gathering around him.  He reconsiders and leaves, grumbling.

Carmilla turns to face Laura. “Are you okay?”

Laura nods, her hands gently rubbing her throat.

Carmilla drops down to her knees in front of Laura and gingerly removes Laura’s hand to inspect her throat.

“There’s a bruise forming,” she notes.

Danny also takes a look and frowns. “Can you talk?”

“I think so?”  Laura’s voice comes out low and raspy.  “Well, this is the most sultry I’ve ever sounded,” she comments with a laugh, before wincing.

“Whoa, take it easy, L,” LaF warns.

Laura nods and looks at Carmilla, who looks back. “I’m glad you’re okay,” Carmilla says softly.

 

“Not to ruin the moment,” Danny cuts in, “but how did you know she’d need help?”

Laura looks over quizzically at the tall redhead.

“She came running over to us after we left the locker room and said someone was going to attack you,” Danny explains.

LaF furrows their brows.  “Yeah, how’d you know she was going to be attacked?”

Carmilla bites her lip and averts her gaze. Laura reaches out to place a hand on Carmilla’s shoulder.  She looks up and meets Laura’s gaze and nods.

“Bros, what’s going on?” Kirsch prods gently.

Laura sighs.  “The Dean is Carmilla’s adoptive mother,” she begins softly. “She’s been ordering Carmilla to help sabotage our season.”

Everyone looks shocked and angry and starts yelling over each other.  Laura and Carmilla flinch and stare at each other until the screaming subsides.

 

“How could you keep this from us?” Danny demands from Laura.  She slaps her on the shoulder a bit too hard and Laura winces.

“Take it easy, dude,” Kirsch comments.

Danny mumbles an apology and glares at Carmilla.

“How long have you know, L?” LaF asks.

“I’ve know about her being the Dean’s daughter since early in the season,” Laura says, but her voice cracks and she grimaces.

Carmilla mimics Laura’s earlier movement and places a hand on her shoulder.  “I’ll take it from here, cupcake.  Talking probably isn’t helping.”   Laura offers her a smile. “Laura only found out about my mother’s scheming after we got into the play-offs.”

“Was that when she followed you out of the locker room?”  Natalie asks.

Carmilla nods.  “She told me to give everyone some space, until she could find a better way to tell you guys.”  She takes a deep breath. “But then after the game tonight, I overheard my mother talking to one of the other team’s players. She was paying him off and telling him to scare Laura into dropping out.  That’s when I went to get you guys.”

 

“Wait, you said she wanted you to _help_ sabotage our season,” SJ points out. “Did she do something else to sabotage it?”

Carmilla’s eyes wander to Betty.

“ _No,_ ” Betty whispers, horrified.  “She _didn’t_ …  She’s the one who hit me with a car?”

Carmilla nods gravely.  “She was aiming for Laura.  And then she figured she couldn’t chance it again…”

Betty stands there, unblinking.

 

“What about Will?” Elsie asks.

Betty nods.  “Yeah, I mean, the Dean is his actual mother, so he definitely knows something, right?”

“He was supposed to help me.  I think he’s also starting to have a problem with this whole scheme, too, but he wouldn’t say anything against her.”

“Why is she doing this?” SJ asks.

“She was hoping that if you guys have a terrible season, she could make a case to the administration to reallocate your funding to the glee club.”

“––Which she coached until they lost funding a couple years ago,” Danny realizes.  “Is…” she hesitates.  “Is that what happened with Elle?”

Carmilla nods slowly.  “Yeah.  She found out how far I was willing to go to make Mother proud of me, and how corrupted she was, and that’s why she left.”

 

“Why _didn’t_ you tell us, Laura?” Perry asks gently.  “We could’ve prevented tonight from happening if we reported the Dean.”

Laura starts to speak but Carmilla shoots her a look, and Laura remains quiet.  “She didn’t want you guys to lose your faculty advisor and have to scramble for a new one now,” she says for her.

“Fine.  We report her after we kick butt in our last game,” LaF states firmly.

Carmilla averts her gaze, looking like she wants to say something else, but changed her mind.

A moment of silence falls on the group.

“I’m really sorry, everyone,” Carmilla says quietly but sincerely.  “I know I should’ve told you a lot sooner, and you guys started really making me feel like I belonged and it got harder to keep it from you all.  But then I thought if I did finally reveal it, you’d never trust me again.”

“But when you came to us tonight, you had to know we’d have to piece it together,” LaF points out.

Carmilla shrugs.  “Laura was in danger.  There was no other choice.”

Laura beams at Carmilla.

“I know I’ve lost your trust, but I hope I can earn it back one day,” Carmilla adds.

“Well, I can’t speak for everyone here,” Danny says, wrapping an arm around Laura and giving her a light squeeze, “but coming clean to us tonight and protecting Laura is a great start.”

 

“Enough for Carm to join us for the final game?” Laura asks hopefully.

There’s a moment of silent deliberation.

“All in favor of Carmilla rejoining the team, raise your hand,” Danny finally says.

Laura’s hand shoots up and Carmilla smiles at her.

Carmilla looks around as slowly the other hands go up, until the entire team has their hand raised.

“Then it’s decided,” Danny remarks, nudging her with a half-smile.

“If Laura trusts you, then that’s good enough for me,” Kirsch says with a grin.

“Just no more sabotaging,” LaF adds, narrowing their eyes.

Carmilla finds herself speechless.

“I’ll speak for her now,” Laura giggles. “Carm says, ‘thanks.’”

“Yes, guys.  Thank you.”


	23. Nowhere Else To Go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carmilla deals with the aftermath of going against her mother, with Laura's support.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys have been absolutely amazing!! Thanks for your awesome support and feedback <3

Laura brings her TARDIS mug out into the living room. Danny had gone with her the night before to buy some tea bags and honey to help sooth her throat.

After Danny walked her home, she glared at her tiny teammate.  “You’re just gonna drink hot chocolate anyway, aren’t you?”

Laura grinned sheepishly and laughed when Danny gave an exasperated sigh.

“You have a serious problem, Hollis.”

She, Kirsch, LaF, and Perry had offered to have a sleepover and keep Laura company, but Laura gently refused and thanked them. She settles onto her couch and turns on the television, channel surfing until she lands on some chick flick and the doorbell rings.

She gets up and opens the front door.

It’s Carmilla.

She looks like she’s been crying.

 

“Hey, cutie,” she croaks out with a sad smile.

“Oh my god, Carm,” Laura says, ushering her in. “What’s the matter? What happened?” She leads her to the couch and sits her down, handing her a box of tissues.

Carmilla sniffles and takes a tissue but keeps it in her lap.  “Apparently the guy I chased off tonight reported back to my mother.  When I woke up today, she was furious.”

“Oh, no.”

“Oh, _yes_ ,” Carmilla retorts.  “She told me to make sure I get back on the team and screw up the finals for you guys.” She scoffs.  “I told her what we were doing was stupid and wrong, and obviously pointless since you guys made it this far, anyway.”

“ _We_ made it this far,” Laura corrects.

This makes Carmilla laugh.  “You’re ridiculous.”

Laura giggles, but it agitates her throat and she winds up having a minor coughing fit.

Carmilla frowns and hands her the mug on the table. Laura takes it and takes a sip, while Carmilla goes to stand up.  “I’m sorry, I forgot you’d been through enough last night.  I shouldn’t be here bothering you.”

 

Laura grabs her wrist.  “You’re not bothering me,” she says firmly.

Carmilla sits back down.

“Keeping in mind that you’re not bothering me… I’m going to ask why you’re here.”

Carmilla huffs.  “After I told her off, she told me I was ungrateful and yadda, yadda, yadda…”  She swallows hard. “And then she kicked me out of the house.”

Laura’s mouth drops open.

“She told me I wasn’t welcome there anymore and that since I’m eighteen, she no longer has to take care of me.”

Laura lunges forward and gives Carmilla a warm hug. Carmilla seems startled at first, but then melts into it and hugs her back.

“I didn’t know where else to go,” Carmilla admits quietly.

Laura squeezes her tighter.  “You came to the right place.”

 

Laura lets go and pulls away. “Mostly because I’m here, but also because Danny bought me the city’s entire supply of tea and honey.” She bounces up. “Good for post-strangulation sore throats?  Sure. But also good for people who need some cheering up.  I also always have hot chocolate.”

“Surprise me,” Carmilla chuckles and uses the tissue to dab at her eyes.  Laura goes to the kitchen and returns a few minutes later with a mug of hot chocolate, filled to the brim with marshmallows and whipped cream.  She hands Carmilla a spoon.  “Go crazy, Carm.”

 

Laura starts flipping through channels again and stops at some channel showing a music video countdown.

They’re both sitting sideways with Laura’s legs on top of Carmilla’s.

“Carm?”

“Hmm?”  She’s sipping from the mug.

“This goes without saying, but you’re welcome to stay here for as long as you need, okay?”

Carmilla looks like she’s about to cry again, but smiles.  “I don’t know what I ever did to meet someone like you.”

“Oh, you hit Natalie and took her stick,” Laura deadpans.  Carmilla laughs and kicks her.

 

“No more hot chocolate for you, young lady,” Laura quips.

Carmilla chuckles.

They watch music videos for a bit before Laura shifts so her legs are bent, her feet facing away from Carmilla.

“How’s your throat?” Carmilla asks. There’s a mean bruise forming, and it looks like it will only get worse.

Laura shrugs.  “It feels like a huge hockey player tried to crush it last night,” she replies with a wink before going back to watching the music video.

Carmilla shifts so that she’s now closer to Laura, her legs bent similarly.  “Laura?”

Laura turns her attention from the television. “Yeah?”

“Are we okay?” Carmilla bites her lip.

Laura smiles.  “What? You mean, just because you lied to me for months? Pfft.”

Carmilla rolls her eyes and narrows her eyes. “Can you be serious?”

“Yes, Carm, we’re fine,” Laura answers.

 

Carmilla nods but still looks like she could cry at any second.

“Hey,” Laura says softly.  “Come here.”

She moves so her back is against the couch, and gestures for Carmilla to lean her back against Laura.  Carmilla does it hesitantly, but soon she’s nestled into Laura’s front, and they’re lying on the couch horizontally.  Laura leans her head against the couch, and Carmilla gently rests her head against Laura’s chest.

“Is this okay?” Laura asks, wrapping her arm over Carmilla’s waist.

“Yes,” Carmilla responds.  “It’s fine.”

They watch a few music videos in silence before Carmilla interlaces their fingers together.

“Carm?”

“Yeah?”

“Your mother is a butthead.”

 

Carmilla laughs and brings Laura’s hand to her lips and presses a kiss to it.  “Thank you, Laura.”  She takes a shaky breath. “Thank you for everything.”

Laura kisses Carmilla’s head lightly.

They stay like this until both of their breathing evens out, and eventually they doze off.


	24. Karnsnipe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the final game in the playoffs as the team deals with the aftermath of the season's revelations, attempting to band together to overcome the obstacles thrown in their path.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm glad you guys liked the fluff in the last chapter so much LOL <3

There’s a strange air in the locker room when Laura and Carmilla enter.  There’s an angry-looking bruise on Laura’s neck, but she’s in less pain.  Laura takes her usual locker and Carmilla hesitantly takes the one next to her.

Danny comes walks over to Carmilla’s locker. “Laura told me about what happened with your mother,” she whispers.  “I’m sorry.”

Carmilla glances over at Laura, who looks like she just got caught stealing from the cookie jar.

“She’s the only one I told, I promise.”

Carmilla gives her a small smile. “Thanks, Danny.”

Danny smiles and goes back to her locker.

“Are you mad at me?” Laura asks, wringing her hands together.  She’s pouting and batting her lashes at Carmilla, who feels an overwhelming urge to either slap her or kiss her.

“Furious,” Carmilla says sarcastically, rolling her eyes.  “How dare you.”

Laura laughs and goes back to changing.

 

Will enters the locker room.  He walks over to her.  “Can I talk to you after you finish changing?”

Carmilla swallows hard and nods.

She changes quickly and heads out of the locker room, sharing an uneasy look with Laura.  Will is waiting outside.

“What’s up?”

He takes a deep breath.  “What Mother did to you–– it was wrong,” he says quietly.

Carmilla shrugs, doing her best to feign a blasé attitude. _As if I didn’t run crying to Laura right after_.  “I’ve never been disillusioned enough to believe that if I didn’t serve a purpose to her, I’d be discarded.”

Will winces a bit, either at her harsh tone, or at the truth behind her words.  “Yeah.” He puts his hand in his pockets and looks at the ground.  “Either way, I told her I thought it was wrong.”

Carmilla quirks an eyebrow.  “You did?”

Will looks back up.  “What’s she going to do?  Kick me out?” He laughs wryly. “I moved out as soon as I could because she’s manipulative and a user.  But I could never find a reason to really break free, y’know?” He sighs.    “But after finding out how she treated you, and how she’s just going after these kids and hurting them for no reason… Plus, they’re _talented_ –– I mean, _really_ talented.  They don’t deserve this.”

Carmilla bites her lip.  “The team wants to report her after today’s game.”

 “She’s convinced that they’re not worth the trouble anymore, especially without both of us, and she can leave them alone and move onto another club next year. But if they really do this, and _win_ , she won’t be able to.” Will raises an eyebrow.  “Are you gonna be a witness and give them evidence?”

Carmilla nods.

Will gives a long exhale.  “Then, I will, too.  It’ll make it all the more believable.”

Carmilla’s eyes widen, causing Will to chuckle. “‘The sins of the’ mother, right?”

 

The team starts exiting the locker room, giving them glances as they walk towards the rink.  Carmilla starts to join, before Will grabs her wrist.

“Where did you stay after she kicked you out?”

Carmilla turns to face him.  “With Laura.”

Will smirks.  “I figured.”

Carmilla rolls her eyes and walks away. Maybe she had a crap adoptive mother, but at least she got a good brother out of it.

 

She joins Laura on the line for warm-ups.

“What was that about?” Laura asks.

“Global warming,” Carmilla answers flippantly.

Laura gives her a light whack with her stick. “Rude.”

Carmilla laughs.

They both take their turns shooting at Perry and get back on line.

“Thank you again for letting me stay with you,” Carmilla says.

Laura smiles.

“And for letting me share the bed with you,” she adds with a suggestive wink.

“I’d say it was no problem, but you kept taking my yellow pillow,” Laura replies with a glare.

Carmilla chuckles.

 

Laura’s been working with Carmilla during practices to show her how to do the Michigan trick, and Carmilla almost has it perfected, doing it once on Perry.  Perry looks mildly annoyed but then smiles when Laura is happily beaming and congratulating Carmilla.

The whistle eventually blows to start the game, so the team lines up at the bench.

Danny takes a deep breath.  “It’s been a tough season,” she begins.  “For some, more than others,” she continues, glancing at Betty, Laura, and Carmilla.  “But we’ve made it. Against all odds, we made it, because we’re a strong team.”  She looks at Laura, Perry, LaF, and Kirsch.  “And what _else_ are we?”

The other four, obviously continuing an old tradition, shout out, “The Silas Sirens!”

Danny grins and raises her voice. “I said, _what are we_?!”

The whole team booms out, “SILAS SIRENS!” and cheers.

 

It’s a final play-off game for a reason.

Both teams are matched for shots on goal at thirty-six each halfway through the third period, when LaF gets called for a hooking call. Carmilla and Laura skate off the ice to rest their legs while Betty and Danny have a quick shift, with Kirsch and Sarah Jane on defense.

Within thirty seconds, the other team scores on a power play goal off a strong slap shot over Perry’s blocker.

Carmilla and Laura give exasperated sighs and make the switch with Betty and Danny and stand at center ice. Laura wins the face-off and the puck goes back to Kirsch, who shoots it along the boards.  Laura and Carmilla chase after it, but the other team’s defenseman gets to the puck first and passes it to the other defenseman.

Carmilla drops back, while Laura puts on pressure in the offensive zone.  The puck goes to the center, who takes it through the neutral zone.  SJ poke checks the puck, but it goes to a forward. Kirsch goes after him, winning the puck in a fight along the boards, and quickly passes it over to Carmilla.

Laura’s already bursting into the neutral zone and waits at the line for Carmilla.  They both enter the offensive zone together, and Carmilla drops back a bit while Laura positions herself in front of the net.  Carmilla shoots at the correct angle, and the goalie blocks it, but she leaves a rebound.  Laura’s on it, taking a quick wrist shot, and the puck flies past the goalie.

 

 

Regulation ends with the game tied 1-1, and neither team scores in overtime.  Carmilla and Laura are on the ice for the entirety of it, but can’t capitalize on any chances.

“Whoa, dudes, I can’t remember the last time we had a shootout,” Kirsch says, buzzing with excitement.

“Well, Kirsch, you’re up first,” Will declares.

Kirsch’s eyebrows furrow in confusion. “But what about Carmilla and Laura?”

“The first three shooters are going to be Kirsch, Natalie, and Danny,” Will replies, leading to a lot of objections. He holds up his hands defensively. “Guys, _guys_ , trust me.”

Everyone glances over to Carmilla.

“What?”

“Is he still trying to sabotage the team?” Elsie asks bluntly.

Will’s mouth drops open.  “You told them?”  His face turns red.  “You told _everyone_?”

“I-I didn’t really have a choice, okay? Once they found out about Mother, it wasn’t hard to connect the dots.”

Will sighs.  “ _No_ , I am not trying to sabotage the game.  It’s a strategy, okay?”

“I trust him,” Carmilla says firmly, earning a smile from Will.

“I trust him, too,” Laura says without hesitation.

 

“Fine,” Kirsch says.  “That’s good enough for me, coach.”

He goes to center ice.  After the whistle, he skates with the puck, dekes a few times, and fires it off his backhand into the net.

The other players congratulate him and then look at Will.

“Look,” he begins, “that goalie was reading all of Laura and Carmilla’s shots during overtime.  We needed some new shots to throw her off.  It’s all a mind game.”

 

The next player goes, and Perry easily blocks the wrist shot.

 

Natalie takes the puck down towards the goalie and takes a hard slap shot, but the goalie catches it.

 

Perry anticipates the next player’s shot, but at the last moment he fakes her out and the puck slides past into the net.

 

Danny flies down the ice with the puck, dangles a bit, and shoots the puck into the goalie’s five-hole.

She beams as she skates back, and Laura bops her on the shoulder pad.  “The return of Danny Dangle!” she laughs.

 

The last player goes, coming at Perry with a burst of speed, and quickly fires a shot before she even reaches the hash marks, right past Perry.

 

Will looks at Carmilla and Laura. “Which one of you wants to go?”

Carmilla looks at Laura.

“Carm should go,” Laura says immediately.

“What?  No,” Carmilla says, vaguely horrified. 

“Carm, you can do this,” Laura says gently.

Carmilla shakes her head.  “You’ve already scored on her once,” she points out.

Laura shrugs with a smile.  “Then I want to share the wealth.”

“What if...” her voice trails off.

“Carm, you’re gonna score and win this for us. I believe in you.”

Carmilla looks into Laura’s warm eyes, and sees nothing but pure, adamant confidence.  She looks around her and sees similar looks in her other teammates.

“You’ve got this, Karnsnipe,” LaF presses, earning some looks of approval for the nickname.

 

Carmilla finally nods and takes her position at center ice.  The whistle blows, and she picks up the puck and takes it down the ice.  She quickly mulls over her options–– A slap shot?  A wrist shot?  Forehand? Backhand?

 _No_.

She makes a snap decision and presses the tip of the blade of her stick on top of the puck and tilts the puck so it’s on the ice at an angle and then lifts it onto the blade so that the puck is now resting on the blade.  The goalie looks confused. Carmilla makes quick strides with the puck, holding the stick horizontally before twirling while holding the stick vertically and the puck goes flying off the blade and into the net.

Silas’s team bench roars in cheers, but Carmilla’s ears pick up Laura’s above everyone else’s.  They swarm her, and Carmilla is smiling more than she ever has as she feels herself being hugged and congratulated.

The team slowly pulls away from her, but still stands around her.  But Carmilla can only focus on one face.

Laura’s beaming more than Carmilla has ever seen her. Carmilla takes off her helmet and Laura does the same before she rushes forward again to give Carmilla a real hug. Carmilla hugs her back.

 

“I knew you could do it, Carm,” Laura says, squeezing her tighter.

Carmilla pulls away first, and Laura’s grin is so wide and so smug that Carmilla wants to wipe it off her face. So she does–– with a kiss.

Carmilla pulls Laura into a deep kiss and can feel the world melting away.  Laura drops her gloves and place one hand behind Carmilla’s neck.

 

Someone suddenly clears their throat and they pull apart, Carmilla chuckling and Laura giggling with a blush.

“We should probably go bump fists with the other team,” Danny says, snickering.  “Sportsmanship is key.”

The team starts to skate away and Laura and Carmilla trail behind.

“I so do _not_ feel like being sportsmanlike right now,” Laura says, still giggling.

Carmilla bumps their shoulder pads together.

“I guess I really have been a bad influence on you, cupcake.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter, guys! :)


	25. Was It Love At First Sight?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura gathers the team for another barbecue at her home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is, guys. The last chapter. *tear*

Laura flips over the burgers and holds her hand out. Carmilla hands her a plate and watches Laura as she puts the burgers on the plate.

“You’re staring, Carm,” Laura says, giggling.

“Am I?” Carmilla smirks, kissing Laura on the cheek. She takes the plate from Laura and sets it down.  “Maybe I just really like how juicy these burgers look.”

“Mmhmm.”  Laura grins as their lips meet.  “That sounds plausible.”

 

Kirsch opens the door from the house and shields his eyes.  “Whoa, sorry, dudes!”

Carmilla sighs when Laura pulls away.

“Tell the others the food is ready?”

She’s obviously hoping Kirsch will go inside to do this and give her and Carmilla a few more seconds alone, but he just turns his head and bellows out, “YO, GUYS, THE FOOD IS READY!”

Carmilla rolls her eyes and Laura slaps her forehead and sighs.

The others come out and start serving themselves.

Will is there, as well, and halfway through the meal, he stands up, clears his throat, and raises his glass.

 

“I’d like to propose a toast,” Will says.

Everyone raises their glasses.

“First off, cheers to you guys for an amazing season, and making me proud to be your terrible traitor of a coach,” he adds, followed by laughter.  “Which I apologize profusely for and look forward to making up for it next year.” He looks around for someone else to add something.

“Cheers to the case brought against the Dean that led to the administration swiftly removing her from Silas University,” Betty says, earning a lot of cheers and whoops.

“And to the ongoing lawsuit of Betty suing the Dean for hitting her with her car that’s totally going her way,” Sarah Jane adds.

“Props to the new faculty advisor, our journalism teacher,” Danny continues.

Laura stands up and smiles to the girl at her side. “To Carmilla, who faced a lot of baggage this season, but scored the game-winning goal for us. And, after a rocky start, for becoming an amazing teammate and, more importantly, friend.”  There’s applause and more whooping.

Carmilla looks at Laura like she’s an angel, and can’t even hide it.

 

Carmilla stands up.  “This isn’t so much a toast as it is a speech,” she says quietly. She bites her lip and raises her voice.

“When I joined, I was doing things to make my mother proud of me, and it was because I felt so alone.  But you guys have shown me that a true team has friends that have your back and look for the best in you, and believe in you even when you don’t believe in yourself.”  She takes a deep breath.  “And I just wanted to thank all of you for welcoming me and making me feel like I belong.” She looks over to Laura. “And to thank Laura for having us all in her house–– again–– and always having our backs.”

Everyone raises their glasses higher and clinks them, before slowly returning to their food and private conversations.

 

Carmilla rises and motions for Laura to follow her.

“You’re turning into a sap,” Laura teases.

“I guess you’re also a bad influence on me, cutie,” Carmilla comments once they’re inside.

Laura laughs.  “So, what’s up?”

“Well, I also wanted to thank you for letting me stay with you.  And to tell you I’ll definitely be kicking in half the rent for the house, since I have money saved up from my job at the rink.”  Laura starts to protest, but Carmilla holds up a finger to her lips.  “This is non-negotiable, buttercup.”

Laura just kisses Carmilla’s finger and nods.

Carmilla smiles at her finger and puts it down. “Speaking of my job at the rink, I thought I’d give you this.”  She reaches into a bag and pulls out a puck.  She hands it to Laura.

“It’s not a new puck,” Laura observes. “Why are you giving me an old puck?”

 

Carmilla blushes a bit before answering. “It’s a puck from our first practice together–– the one during tryouts, not the one where I hit you into the boards,” she corrects quickly.  “I found it in the net that night after you guys left and I…”  She takes a deep breath.  “I kept it.”

Laura grins at her.  “Why?”

Carmilla shrugs.  “I honestly don’t know.  You were just this little ball of contagious happiness and energy, and just so trusting right away, and it made me happy.”

Laura wiggles her eyebrows.  “Was it love at first sight?”

“Would it matter if I say ‘no?’” Carmilla rolls her eyes.

Laura giggles and looks at the puck more closely. “Wow, a puck from when we first met,” she marvels.  “A puck that is proof that it was love at first sight,” she adds smugly.

“Shut up, you dork,” Carmilla snaps, her smile growing wider.  She pulls Laura into another kiss and places her hands on Laura’s waist.

 

There’s some ruckus outside and they break the kiss to look out the window.  Kirsch is currently chugging a beer while Danny times him and Sarah Jane, Natalie, LaFontaine, and Elsie are cheering him on.  Perry is shaking her head disapprovingly and Will is loudly making a bet that Kirsch is going to puke.

Carmilla turns back to Laura. “Hey, creampuff?”

“Yeah?”

“I can’t wait for next season.”

Laura beams back.  “Me, neither.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a blast to do this story, and I hope to be able to do a sequel if I can find a way to work one in with the second season, but obviously that's a ways away.  
> I wanted to sincerely thank all of you for being so supportive and amazing during my first AU! I initially wrote it for my own enjoyment, and I’m so happy that so many of you enjoyed the ride, as well :D Your comments and encouragement made me smile more than I did writing the fic. Stay awesome <3


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